Secret Thoughts
by MissCHSparkles
Summary: If you existed in an alternative universe, would you like to know how your other self lives? Harry is given the chance to see what could have been if his early life had played out slightly differently. But he's not along, his best friends along with some choice characters are also there to see and to learn the secret thoughts of another Harry. Inspired by Under a Watchful Eye.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's note. I proposed this idea to MySecretThoughts and she liked it. The basic idea is a group of Hogwarts characters read her story 'Under a Watchful Eye.' I got the idea from all the various 'characters read My Immortal' stories and I just thought it would be interesting to try. Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't, we'll soon see. _

_By the way trolls, have you ever heard of a little thing called a...wait for it, wait for it...LIBRARY! Yes, there are magical places where you can read the books FOR FREE. And frankly, the majority of people reading fan fiction have ALREADY brought/read the books or watched the film. I know it gives you a buzz to have people's work deleted because you're incapable of writing your own but try to resist the urge to be a douchebag. _

_Anyway, because of the trolls, I'm not going to post whole chunks of the books. I will either summarise or use quotes; the focus will be more on this alternative universe reading. You see I have a different take on the character than MySecretthougts does so for the purposes of this story, we'll simply consider it an alternative universe._

_I'm afraid my Truth and Lies: Book One story has been deleted by FF, I'm really sorry everyone. I'm not sure where I can post it again, maybe Deviantart might be a good place._

_For those that hate Ginny, don't panic, right now I'm not really planning to pair anyone with Harry._

_Enjoy and please review._

"I'm sorry for being a jerk," Harry mumbled to his friends as they made their way downstairs.

"That's fine, just don't do it again," Ginny told him and he smiled sheepishly.

He still felt ashamed that he'd forgotten about Ginny being possessed by Voldemort for almost a whole year and almost killed by him. He just hadn't been able to think logically for the last week or so, not since Mr Weasley had been attacked. But his friends had convinced him that it wasn't his fault and he was feeling ten times better than this morning.

He was now trooping downstairs with them for lunch and he was feeling absolutely ravenous. But just as they were going down the last set of stairs, Molly suddenly came bustling out.

"There you are," she said breathlessly. "The headmaster is in the kitchen."

"Has something happened to dad?" Ginny yelped in alarm, instantly fearing the worst.

"No, no, your father's fine," Molly told her. "Albus would like to see you all."

"He would?" Harry repeated before sighing. "I'd better go; he won't want to see me."

"Oh he does dear," Molly interjected before he could start back up the stairs in a gloom. "In you all go, lunch won't be long."

Glancing at each other, they did as they were told while Molly went to fetch the twins. Dumbledore was sitting casually at the kitchen table along with Sirius who was staring at a pile of books and a letter. Harry thought they looked rather muggle in appearance, they weren't leather bound or anything and the colours were a little too bright for wizards.

"Good afternoon," he greeted them, catching Harry's eye which amazed the black haired boy. "The house is looking very merry; I hope you're all looking forward to Christmas."

"Yes sir," Hermione said instantly. "You wanted to see us?"

"Indeed I did," he nodded, taking out a letter from the folds of his robes. "I just received this rather unusual letter that needs to be shared with you."

As they sat down, Fred and George appeared behind them with a crack, causing the kids to jump.

"Stop doing that," grumbled Ron, rubbing his leg where he'd bashed it.

"Why, mum said it was important," Fred said smugly.

"Yeah, we couldn't possibly keep our esteemed headmaster waiting," George admonished his little brother.

"Yeah right," Ron said moodily as Dumbledore smiled at them all.

"Dear Professor Dumbledore," the old man began. "I know this letter may appear rather suspicious but I assure you its all true. We've included a note on things only you yourself know to verify who we are. This will be for your eyes only until such time as you want to reveal the contents."

Dumbledore smiled slightly as he said. "I have read that note and it does indeed contain information only I could know so I believe that whoever wrote this letter is telling the truth."

"And what is this letter saying?" asked Sirius, hands playing with a spare bit of cutlery.

"That its writer is from the future," Dumbledore said simply as everyone gaped at him. Before he could be bombarded with questions, he continued reading the letter.

In the future, Voldemort was defeated," he said as everyone gasped. "But at a great cost, many good people were killed and we feel this could have been avoided. Sadly, we can only send this gift back to the middle of Harry's fifth year; we can't save Cedric or the others Voldemort killed."

Harry's fist clenched as he thought of the kind boy whose life had been so abruptly cut short.

"I know how disappointed you will all be and believe us when we say we wish this could be different. Anyway, you will require a certain group of people to be with you while you read these books. Obviously you Professor Dumbledore but also Professor McGonagall and Snape. Mr and Mrs Weasley with all their children although we understand Charlie might not be able to make it."

"He'll be gutted," George stated.

"In order to allow Arthur Weasley to join you, we've written what potion he needs. Give it to him and by the evening, he'll be able to come home," Dumbledore read as Ron exclaimed.

"That's great."

Harry was also grinning, the guilt he'd felt over Mr Weasley's attack ebbing away slightly.

"Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. And lastly, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mad Eye Moody and Tonks. Some parts will be difficult but you must all stay for it, this is vital."

Sirius scoffed, thinking of being forced to sit in the same room as Snape for longer than an hour.

"This next part may seem very strange but we have our reasons. We have not only set you seven books detailing Harry's years at Hogwarts..."

"What?" Harry exclaimed, completely taken aback by this. "But why?"

"Because you have faced and defeated Voldemort several times," Dumbledore told him softly. "The events leading up to these instances are extremely important and may tell us more than we realised."

"So, it's just those events?" Harry said slowly but Dumbledore just smiled.

"I have not looked through the books so I do not know," he said, adding. "But they look a little too thick to be merely on those events."

"Oh," Harry said, not sure what to think. A part of him wanted to refuse but a larger part of him was curious as to what was in these books. He wanted to see them but he might not be able to on his own. So he decided to give in for now and see what would happen.

"Okay," he said aloud, allowing Dumbledore to continue.

"...But within these books are commentary from an alternative universe where a slightly different group of you are reading the same book."

"A what?" Sirius exclaimed in shock as the dam on questions finally burst.

"An alternative universe? That's impossible?"

"What does it mean by different group of us?"

"I don't understand!"

Dumbledore held up a hand and they all managed to stop their flow of questions.

"I don't know much about it but I believe this is possible. The Department of Mysteries studies this concept and the little that they reveal indicates these alternative universes do exist. They do not necessary contain drastic differences but there are enough to make them alternative in the first place. We shall soon see just how different this one is if we read."

There was a pause and then Harry said.

"I want to read it."

"Me too," Ron declared as Hermione nodded. "I'm in."

It didn't take much for Fred, George and Ginny to also declare their willingness to hear what these books had to say. Molly looked a bit worried and said.

"This will be safe, won't it Albus?"

"It will be," he assured her. "And if it's not, we will deal with it swiftly."

She nodded, a little distracted by the thought of her husband being able to leave hospital.

"Is there any more to the letter, Professor?" Hermione asked and he smiled.

"It is safe for you to look into Harry's eyes," Dumbledore now read quietly as they all stared at him. "But you should probably wait until the fifth book to explain your reasoning in the first place. Good luck from the future to the past."

"I guess we gather everyone now," Sirius said a little gloomily. "Does Snape really have to be here?"

"Yes he does," Dumbledore said firmly. "And you will treat each other with respect."

"I'll treat him with as much respect as he treats me," Sirius said shortly, standing up. "Do you want me to contact some of the others?"

"If you would," Dumbledore said with a nod and Sirius left, giving Harry a small smile.

"I must go as well to organise Arthur's treatment," Dumbledore said, also getting up. "And call the others, would it be possible to organise the sitting room so we can all sit comfortably?"

"Of course Albus, we'll have everything ready," Molly assured him.

"Excellent," he said with a beam. "Well, I shall see you all later."

And he swept from the room as Molly turned to them and said.

"Right then, we'd better get started. Fred, George, get your wands, I'll need you to..."

As she rattled off a set of instructions, Ron hissed to Harry.

"What you reckon this'll be like?"

"No idea," Harry said with a shrug. "I wonder what these people from this...alternative universe are like."

Ron had no idea so he simply offered his friend a shrug of his shoulders.

"I think it's fascinating," Hermione exclaimed excitedly in a whisper. "Just think about everything we can discover."

"Yeah, suppose it'll be good," Ron said with another shrug as his mother directed them out of the kitchen and towards the sitting room.

Later

"How do you feel, Arthur?" Molly asked as she made sure her husband was comfortable on a sofa. True to the letter's word, the potion they suggested worked perfectly and Arthur was able to leave.

"Wonderful Molly dear, just a bit tired," he said with a reassuringly smile as she sat beside him, allowing him to put an arm around her.

Everyone was sat in the large Black sitting room, on assorted sofas and chairs. They all, barring Snape looked happy to be here although Mad Eye was watching the books with both eyes as though he thought they would explode at any moment.

"That's everyone I believe," Dumbledore said with a smile as Tonks asked.

"Is this really a set of books from an alternative universe?"

"That has already been established," drawled Snape, sitting in a high backed chair with gnarled arms that snaked to the floor.

Sirius glared at him as he said. "Some of us find this a bit unbelievable Snape?"

"I'm sure you find many things unbelievable Black," shot back Snape. "Such as the fact anyone thought you were a murderer in the first place...took everyone by surprise that did."

Sirius growled as Remus placed a hand on his arm.

"Really Severus," McGonagall exclaimed. "There's no need for that, we haven't even started on these books."

He inclined his head and leaned back, a small smirk playing on his lips.

"Who would like to start?" Dumbledore asked and Bill raised a hand.

"I'll start us off," he replied, not wanting there to be a big argument over who would and wouldn't start.

_Meeting of the Order of the Phoenix_

_Number 12 Grimmauld Place__  
__Winter holidays, 5th year_

_Severus Snape had finished giving his report of the latest Death Eater activity and now stared resolutely at the opposite wall. He didn't want to take the chance that he would meet accusing eyes. He was well aware that all but one of the assembled group had at least some doubts about his allegiance. He held back a sigh, a small but ignored piece of him wishing that things could be different._

This little segment caused everyone to stare in astonishment at the Potion's Master, was that really how he felt? Snape merely offered them all a sneer of derision, inwardly annoyed at the book's beginning.

_The babble of conversation flowing around the room was abruptly interrupted by a small __pop!__ and the thumping of a book onto the centre of the table. Instinctively half of the group grabbed their wands as they stared around in anticipation. When minutes passed with no further activity they turned their attention to the book._

"Only half?" grumbled Moody. "Constant vigilance."

"Watch out," Tonks hissed. "He'll have us all practising in case that ever does happen."

_"It appears there is a letter here," Albus Dumbledore stated as he lifted the envelope from the cover of the book. "Ah, it is addressed to the Order..." he mused, opening the envelope._

"So that's how they got theirs," Moody said thoughtfully.

_**Hello Dumbledore. I know that you will be the one reading this as you will not be able to bear someone else knowing something ahead of you.**_

There were a few chuckles as Dumbledore himself smiled.

_Silver eyebrows raised at this as there were amused coughs from around the table._

_"Am I that predictable?" he inquired dryly before continuing. Many of the adults tried to conceal their mirth out of respect for the old man._

"They do clearly know me," the old headmaster acknowledged with a slight twinkle.

_**Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. Now if you haven't already looked, and Remus I'm really surprised if you haven't...**_

_The werewolf in question flushed as he looked up from the book he had picked up. There was a smatter of laughter around him. Sirius slapped him on the back, grinning widely._"Too curious for your own good," Sirius said good-naturedly, imitating the book by slapping his friend on the back.

_**The book is from the future, printed in the months after the end of the war from memories. It is only the first of seven and it chronicles the school years of the Boy-Who-Lived. And yes, Professor Snape, it is necessary to go back in time to the first year instead of starting from the current location. It is all necessary to understand why and how.**_

Snape raised an eyebrow; this so called book was already starting on a rather presumptive tone.

_Snape resisted rolling his eyes at the dramatics, sliding his indifferent mask in place. _

All the kids hid smirks at the sneer now on Snape's face at this.

_Dumbledore, despite being unnerved by the whole situation, was showing an alarming amount of twinkle at the attitude displayed in the letter._Naturally, the present Dumbledore was doing the exact same thing.

_**Now to finish there are rules. First we are missing players. Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and all of the Weasley children need to be present. Yes Molly, all of the children. Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood are waiting in the square to be brought inside.**_

"Luna and Neville?" Hermione repeated in confusion. "Why would they be asked?"

Ron shrugged and none of the adults had a good answer except for Dumbledore who said.

"They must be important to the future," he mused as everyone who knew the two in question stared. Just how could a rather bumbling but well meaning Gryffindor and an extremely eccentric young Ravenclaw be important?

_**House elves will deliver food at appropriate times.**_

_**Once you start reading your magic will be useless. There will be no pranking, hexing, or killing. Sorry Sirius, but this is for the welfare of everybody.**_

"That doesn't bode well," Sirius murmured, wondering about the pranking bit. It had been more than a decade since he'd last pranked anyone, hell, it was probably getting close to two. It had most definitely been the last thing on his mind since getting out of Azkaban.

_**The next book will only appear once you have completed the current one. Once you start reading time will basically stand still. All members must be present during the reading or the books will disappear. Time outside the house is standing still and will only continue once the last book has been finished.**_

"How could they do that?" Hermione was unable to stop herself from asking.

"Maybe it's possible to do that in this alternative universe," growled Moody. "Although I'd still bet it's in the future and not when this is set."

Hermione still couldn't understand how this could happen but decided to accept it for the time being.

_**You are being given a rare chance to change the future for the better. Don't waste it.**_

_**I solemnly swear I am doing this for a better life.**_

The twins grinned at this in delight and Sirius and Remus also smiled slightly. It reminded them of happier times.

_Sirius flashed his eyes to Remus at the signature. Very few people knew the password to the Marauder's Map, and that phrase was too close for his liking. He saw Remus nod in understanding._

"Tch, lighten up," Sirius commented on. At this point in time, he didn't really care if some people knew the password as long as Harry had it safe and sound.

_"I suppose we have very little choice in the matter." Dumbledore decided quietly after exchanging a glance with his friend and confidant Minerva McGonagall._

"Confident am I?" Minerva asked with a small smile.

"Of course Minerva," Dumbledore chuckled, nodding. "There aren't many I confide in but you are most definitely one of them."

"Wish he could confide in me a bit more," Harry thought to himself as his Head of House smiled again. At least Dumbledore wasn't completely avoiding his gaze anymore but he still wanted to know why he had been before.

_At his words the room elongated to accommodate several chairs and couches for comfort._

"_It's like the Room_," Ginny exclaimed.

"It is, isn't it?" Dumbledore said cheerfully as the adults looked confused.

"It'll come up later," Hermione said quickly before questions could be asked.

_"I believe I should go escort our guests. Molly, if you would get the children."_

_"I really don't see why they have to be involved at all-!" she started, staring defiantly at the older man. "They aren't in the Order. Ginny's only fourteen, as is Luna. It's not safe!" she added fiercely_.

Molly frowned at this. Seeing this, Ginny quickly said.

"Mum, it's alright. We're not involved in dangerous Order business. We're just reading a book. And we probably lived some of this anyway."

Molly relaxed and smiled at her daughter.

"Your right Ginny dear," she said as Arthur squeezed her hand.

"I thought for a moment I might have missed something my other self knew," she whispered to her husband who nodded in understanding.

_"It's only words at this time. Nothing more. And really we don't have a choice if we want to have the chance to change the future," Remus started in a calm and reasonable voice._

"The eternal voice of reason?" Kingsley asked and Sirius barked out a laugh. "You bet."

Snape sneered in contempt, oh yes, Lupin was the voice of reason...when his precious friends were actually in danger of bodily harm or expulsion. At all other times however...well, it wasn't as though Prefects were actually meant to_ intervene_ when there was trouble.

_"Besides these children have lived through four of these books already. I am sure we are going to get far more out of it then they are," Arthur added quietly, prompting his wife to give in with a small huff._

"I wouldn't mind how a few incidents played out," Arthur admitted as the trio glanced at each other, wondering just how much these books would reveal.

_Within twenty minutes, the large group of Order members and the teenagers where positioned in the new sitting area._

_"I am sure not everyone knows each other so perhaps we should introduce ourselves. I am Albus Dumbledore and I have an inordinate fondness for all things sweet," Bright blues eyes at their fullest twinkle, he turned to the stern witch seated beside him._

Harry smirked, thinking how the password for the headmaster's office was always a sweetie.

_"Really Albus." McGonagall muttered as she stared sternly around the room._

Remus smiled to himself, he'd rather enjoyed watching his old Professor be stern while he was a teacher. It had made a nice change from his school days when she was often stern with him and his friends.

_"Professor McGonagall," he introduced her as she remained stubbornly silent before motioning to the grizzled man on her right, "Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody."_

_The majority of the room had glanced at the Twins, expecting some type of outlandish remark. They were surprised by the red faces and curled fists._

"What are you angry at Mad Eye for?" Tonks demanded as they held up their hands in surrender.

"We're not," they protested.

"Maybe he caught you trying to sell those ridiculous sweets," Molly said sternly as they protested again.

"Perhaps if we read," Snape cut in. "We could learn the reason."

With his cue, Bill continued.

_"They've been silenced," their mother informed the group. "I'm sure it'll wear off once we start reading but for now at least we have some peace and quiet." There was a smattering of laughter and some smug smirks thrown the Twin's way._

"Mum," Fred exclaimed in mock horror. "How could you?"

"I'm shocked and appalled," George added.

"Very funny," their mother said as there was laughter. "But if you are too unruly, then I _will _put a silencing charm on you."

"Our lips are sealed," they both declared, making gestures to this affect.

_"I am Kingsley Shacklebolt," he introduced himself, the glint from his earring catching the light. He continued in his deep soothing voice. "Emmeline Vance," he indicated the witch sitting next to him on the second couch._

"Should Emmeline be invited to this reading?" Tonks asked.

"The letter did not mention her," Dumbledore said, shaking his head. "And she is busy tonight but we will see."

_Harry tuned out the rest of the introductions, recognising everyone in the group. His attention had been caught by the book lying on the coffee table in front of him. __Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone__ did not seem like a good book to him. He glanced nervously at this godfather. He was quite unused to having someone that actually cared for him and was unsure what type of reaction his adventures would cause. He certainly didn't want to drive the man away._

"Oi," Ron exclaimed. "What do you mean; someone that actually cared for you?"

"That's not me," Harry exclaimed, frowning at the book.

"I'm sure other Harry just means someone in a parental sense," Hermione reasoned. "You know what the Dursleys are like."

"Yeah," Ron admitted, he knew perfectly well they didn't care for Harry.

"Anyway," Sirius said in response to the last line. "You don't have to worry about driving me away."

His smile turned a little bitter as he said. "I'm pretty sure you can never top what I've done."

"I don't care about that," Harry said firmly, leaning over towards his godfather. "It wasn't your fault."

Sirius's smile turned both grateful and sad. Bill carried on.

_Harry heard his name called in an exasperated voice and turned to the man in question._

_"What?" he asked in surprise noticing everyone was staring at him._

Harry grimaced slightly but didn't say anything.

_"Are you all right?" Sirius asked softly noticing the pallor of the teenager sitting next to him._

Sirius frowned, surely other Harry wasn't that badly affected.

_"I think this is a bad idea and we shouldn't read them," Harry answered louder than he intended._

"I'm taking this well," Harry said bemused.

_"Nonsense boy. These books can be a real advantage for us," Moody growled impatiently. His magical eye was spinning around rapidly while his other was fixed on Harry._

_"Yeah well they're not from your point of view are they? They've not got your private thoughts splashed across the pages have they?" the teenager snapped back, taking the adults by surprise while the teens just sighed._

Harry paused before shrugging. "Oh yeah, that is a good point."

"We don't have to read if you're uncomfortable," Molly said soothingly but he shook his head.

"No...I'd need to tell Sirius and you guys some things anyway, at least this way you can probably see why I did stuff...I hope," he added with a frown, they hadn't got to any of the books yet and he wondered just how detailed they were. Would they explain why he'd done the things he'd did? Like going through the trapdoor, trying to help Hagrid, all these things.

"Only if you're sure," she said and when he nodded, Bill started reading again.

_"Harry!" Sirius admonished. He was shocked by his godson's behaviour, having never seen the teen act so disrespectfully._

"I have," Snape said with a smirk as Sirius turned to glare at him.

_Harry flushed at the looks he was receiving from his family and friends._

Sirius couldn't help but be bolstered by the word family, he really hoped that Harry did consider him that.

_"Really Harry, I don't think it'll be so bad. And if it helps save lives..." Hermione trailed off quietly, always cautious nowadays of her best friend's volatile temper._

"Another good point," Ron said with a smirk at his best friend who ruefully remembered blowing up at his friends.

"Yeah," Fred said grinning. "Just as well none of us are toads, or we'd all be in trouble."

"Or a ferret," Ron couldn't help but add.

"Or beetle," Hermione said meaningfully as she and her two friends laughed.

"What's the joke...?" George started to ask eagerly but Snape cut across him.

"If we could continue?" he said pointedly.

"Git," Ron muttered very quietly to Harry who nodded in agreement.

_"Yeah mate. It's not like we don't know what happened first year anyway- it isn't a big secret," Ron added, lounging back on the couch._

"I don't know what happened," Sirius pointed out with a small smile.

"Neither do I," Tonks said cheerfully as Kingsley smiled but didn't comment.

"Can't wait to find out thought," the pink haired witch added with a grin.

_Harry didn't point out that there was plenty that had happened that year that no one knew about. But he was more concerned about the room finding out about his life before Hogwarts. Some things didn't need to be shared, not even with those that cared about him._

Harry felt his brow crease at this statement. He didn't particularly care to share his life history with the Dursley but there wasn't really that much to say. They didn't like each other, they'd tried to stop him finding out about magic, they spoiled their own son, wasn't really that much to tell. Besides, his friends already knew that, there wasn't much else to tell.

So what did this Harry mean?

_"Harry," Dumbledore said in an unusually grave voice. "Unless you can give us a good reason, I'm afraid the benefits outweigh any slight discomfort you might experience during the reading."_

Harry shrugged, his curiosity was too great.

_The teen was quick to notice that the headmaster continued to avoid his eyes, focusing instead on the wall above his head. He wanted to lash out at the words __**slight discomfort,**__ but the look of mild disapproval from Remus and the concerned one from Sirius held his tongue._

_"Fine whatever," he grumbled, jerking his shoulder in irritation._

Molly tutted to herself, the Harry she knew was nothing like this, he was always a polite well mannered boy. Why was this Harry acting so out of character? Was it simply teenage hormones, she'd seen plenty of those exploding out of her growing boys.

_"Don't worry Potter. I'm sure your sterling image as Golden Boy won't be tarnished too severely!" Snape sneered. How like the boy to cause so much commotion in order to draw more attention to himself!_

"I don't like attention," Harry said with a scowl. "And I'm not like that boy."

Snape didn't say anything for a moment but then said lightly.

"We shall see."

Harry grimaced, if the other Harry continued to snap and snarl at people, Snape would be more convinced than ever that he was an attention seeking brat. Then again, Snape saw everything as evidence that Harry loved attention. What was one more piece of the overall picture?

_Only he heard the soft words from his mentor, "Severus, behave. You might actually learn something from this."_

"If he does, I'll eat my hat," Sirius muttered, watching as Snape sneered again.

_"Doubtful," he snarled back._

"That's it," Bill told the assembled group placing the book down for a moment; his voice was a little horse from reading. It always seemed to happen when he read out loud.

"That was short," commented Tonks thoughtfully as Remus now picked up the book and opened it at its place.

"It's probably just the introduction," Remus surmised, turning the page to see chapter one, the boy who lived. "Ah yes here it is."

"You reading Remus?" Sirius said with a knowing smile.

"I might as well," Remus said with a small, clearing his throat and preparing to read.

_Author's note. You should hopefully have an idea as to whether or not you're going to enjoy this story. Don't be a troll though if you don't like this, it ruins it for everyone. The next chapter contains the first chapter of the book._


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's note. Good response to the first chapter, glad people are enjoying it. _

_I've changed the writing of the original book except for a few quotes so I hope this satisfies everyone. _

_Under a watchful eye was written by MySecretThoughts and I've used it with permission._

_A cookie if you can recognise a movie quote by Fred. I'll reveal it next chapter._

_Enjoy and please review._

With twinkling eyes, Dumbledore began the first proper chapter of the book.

_"I believe I will start," Dumbledore stated opening the book to the first chapter._

**The Boy Who Lived**

_"That's you Harry!" the twins chorused, glad they could talk once again. They directed wide grins at their friend._

"Really, I had no idea," Harry said amused.

"Just thought we'd remind you," Fred said cheerfully as Snape scowled.

If he had to listen to inane comments from witless teenagers all night, he swore that he'd find as many excuses for docking points as he could. Once they were back at Hogwarts of course, Dumbledore would know if he was taking points while in Black's filthy house.

_"Really? I would have never guessed," the younger wizard snarled back, causing his godfather to narrow his eyes at him._

"Someone's a little sensitive," George mused.

_"Harry," Hermione muttered quietly so only he could hear. "Please try to calm down." Harry was slightly surprised to see that his friend looked genuinely worried._

"No wonder," Harry mumbled, his other self was acting insane. Mind you, he knew he'd also been acting weird for the last week, maybe his friends in this other universe hadn't set him straight yet. This thought made him relax and feel less worried about why other Harry was snapping so much.

_"Yeah mate, it won't be so bad. So what- there was the troll, and the dragon, and the through-the-trap-door thing..." Ron's voice trailed off. "__Sweet Merlin,__ we're dead. My mother is going to kill us."_

_"Yeah, well at least she knows some of it. This will be all new to Sirius and Remus," Harry sighed heavily as he glared at the room. Ron and Hermione exchanged worried glances._

"Not all of it," Remus stated. "When I came to teach, I heard many, shall we say, interesting stories about you."

He smiled as he remembered the staff room tales of their students and several of them had involved Harry.

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.**

"Hph," Harry chuckled, that was very true and he knew they'd appreciate this opening sentence.

_"Perfectly boring if you ask me," Bill muttered softly to his brother. The atmosphere in the room was tense and he had no desire to add to it._

"We're clearly not doing our job," George muttered to Fred.

**They never got up to anything abnormal or adventurous; they were very satisfied with their ordinary existence.**

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.**

_"Do they really?" Arthur Weasley asked eagerly. "What are drills?"_

"I'll tell you later Mr Weasley," Hermione offered and he beamed at her in appreciation even though it had been the other Arthur who had asked.

_"Not now dear," his wife admonished, unable to completely hide a fond smile as their sons snickered. The rest of the room chuckled, well aware of the man's overt fondness for all things muggle._

Arthur smiled sheepishly, he knew a lot of people thought him strange for this but he couldn't help it.

**He was also a very large, rather stout man with a proud walrus like moustache while his wife Mrs Dursley was very thin. Her neck seemed longer than most people and she used it to great advantage by spying on her equally ordinary neighbours.**

_Snape's lip curled, some things never changed._

Harry's head swivelled around so fast, he felt it crick slightly.

"What?" he exclaimed but Snape just scowled and gestured for Dumbledore to continue.

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley, and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

"All parents feel that way about their children," Molly said fondly.

_Harry snorted in amusement at the thought of his cousin as small, and couldn't help but smile a little at the twins, who were having an enthusiastic discussion on the types of animals they were reminded of. "A walrus and a giraffe," Harry supplied. "But I suppose she does have a somewhat horse-like appearance as well."_

The twins and Harry also grinned at this, that sounded just right.

_Sirius shared a relieved smile with his best friend as the rest of the room erupted in laughter. A moody Harry was new to them, and they weren't quite sure what to make of it._

"Not new to us," Ron said with a smirk.

"Oi," Harry declared as Ron laughed.

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters.**

_"What's wrong with the Potters?" Emmeline asked in outrage._

"I could think of a few things," muttered Snape although he didn't include Lily in this.

"Really Severus," McGongall said severely as Sirius glared at him.

_"Who would want to keep their family a secret?" Tonks added furiously, her hair turning a fiery red colour._

"I'm pretty sure Aunty Cissy and Aunty Bella want to keep me a secret," Tonk said cheerfully as Sirius made a face.

"They're not the only ones," he said grimly, and he wasn't referring to Tonks.

Harry remembered that Sirius was related to not only Bellatrix Lestrange but also the Malfoys. What a horrible thought.

_"I find it perfectly all right," Sirius spoke up teasingly. "I've tried to keep __**you**__ a secret for a long time."_

"That so?" she replied teasingly. "Well, cat's out of the bag now cousin."

"Yeah," Sirius sighed dramatically as several people laughed.

_Tonks narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Now I know why we're not allowed to use magic. You, my __dear__ cousin, would be fully hexed for the entire duration!" she groused, aiming a smack that he easily dodged.  
_

_Remus laughed and slapped his friend on the back. "So true."_

Remus chuckled a little, this other Tonks reminded him a little of Lily. She had been a fearless and talented girl who had never been afraid to let others know her view point especially James and Sirius. Tonks was so warm and open, he just wished...but there was no point in dwelling on it.

**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't seen each other for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.**

"James was not good for nothing," Sirius exclaimed furiously.

"To my aunt and uncle, he is," Harry said softly, not noticing Snape's smirk.

"But they think everyone who has a magical related job is good for nothing," Harry added as Hermione said.

"So only people with normal, boring jobs like his are proper?"

"That's about it," he agreed.

_"UnDursleyish is not a word!" Hermione exclaimed, aghast. "They're just being idiots!"_

Hermione sighed, it wasn't a real word but she could understand why it was being used. The Dursleys appeared to be the kind of people who slotted others into two categories, normal (which they themselves occupied) and abnormal. UnDursleyish was a word that suited them very well.

_Snape meanwhile was frowning. He knew Potter had been raised by relatives, but he had never thought that it would be __this__ particular relative. He glanced at the sullen teenager and had a sense of dread curl in his stomach. But surely Potter was just being dramatic, wanting the attention._

"Which relative did you think it'd be?" Harry couldn't help but ask. "Her and Dudley are my only blood relatives, aren't they?"

"_I_ knew perfectly well who you'd been placed with Potter," Snape said pointedly.

Harry shrugged but he still couldn't help but wonder...why would other Snape feel dread at the thought of other Harry being with his relatives? They were awful but not really that bad. Beside him, Ron and Hermione also seemed to be frowning; this was so different from what they'd expect from Snape that even Ron had picked up on it.

**They couldn't imagine anything worse than if their neighbours ever found out about the Potters. They knew that the Potters had a son about Dudley's age and they dearly hoped never to see him ever, they didn't want their son mixing with a boy like that.**

"Well I'd rather my godson didn't have to mix with the likes of you," Sirius declared.

_"See mum, you've corrupted us-" Fred announced._

_"Letting us mix with a child like that!" George added, grinning widely._

_"So, really mum, all the trouble I get into is your fault!" Ron spoke without thinking. His eyes popped wide as he realized what he said and even Harry couldn't help laughing at his stricken look._

"Is that so?" she said sternly as her sons blushed. "Well, we'll soon see whose fault it is when you get into trouble."

"Yes mum," they mumbled as Bill laughed.

**When they woke upon a rather grey Tuesday morning, there was nothing to suggest that many strange and mysterious things were happening all over the country from Land's End to John O'Groats. **

_"What things?" Neville asked, speaking for the first time. He appeared very intimidated by his surroundings and couldn't help the frequent glances he shot at the dog animagus._

"I know what day that is," Sirius said thickly and there were a lot of grim looks about. The chapter title meant that even the kids knew what was going to happen.

**Mr Dursley was humming contentedly as he selected a suitable boring tie who work while Mrs Dursleys attempted to place a thrashing Dudley into a high chair.**

"Is that normal?" Arthur asked. "For Muggles to pick a boring tie for their work?"

"It is for my uncle, Mr Weasley," Harry explained.

_"Dudley's a couple months older than me so this must be around the time my parents died." Harry answered softly. Sirius reached over and squeezed his knee in silent understanding._

"Uh," Harry mumbled to himself. The book hadn't actually said how old Dudley was at this point so he wasn't sure about other Harry's statement. Then again, if Dudley was old enough for his high chair but Harry wasn't there, then he must be around one so maybe other Harry's statement wasn't so confusing after all.

**Neither Dursley noticed a dark shape flying past the window, a distinctly owl shaped one. At half past eight sharp, Mr Dursley had slipped on his coat, picked up his briefcase, kissed his wife and attempted to give his son one but was unable due to the fact that** **Dudley was throwing his cereal at the walls.**

_"What an outrageous child!" Emmeline and Hermione cried out in disbelief._

"Wait until he reaches the terrible twos," Molly sighed half fondly, thinking of her beloved babies screaming their heads off, stuffing things into their mouths and throwing almost whatever came to hand about.

_Molly nodded sternly, "Any child of mine behaving like that would soon have his bottom warmed." At once the six Weasley boys, Remus and Sirius squirmed in their seats. McGonagall smirked at the troublemakers' obvious discomfort._

"That is true but I'd hardly do that to a little baby," Molly exclaimed. "Obviously you teach your children good manners but it's a gradual thing.

As the others nodded, Harry was a little thoughtful. He was aware that the Weasley boys had been spanked, he honestly had no idea about Ginny but he himself never really had been. Aunt Petunia had occasionally given him a swat but it was meant as a warning, not a horrible painful affair. And on those instances, it was to discourage him from talking to strangers or other things like that.

The reason he was thinking on this was whether or not his parents would have disciplined him like that. Would Sirius have done that if he'd been able to bring Harry up? It was such a random thought that he quickly shook his head and focused on the reading.

**"Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house, getting into his car and backing out of number four's drive. It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar- a cat reading a map.**

Everyone looked at Professor McGongall but she just smiled very slightly.

_Sirius opened his mouth to make an outrageous comment about his favourite animagus before rethinking this decision in the light of the previous discussion. Remus smirked, knowing full well how his best friend's mind worked._

"You're favourite, Mr Black?" she asked and he grinned.

"Of course," he said with a wide smile, somehow looking younger and more handsome as mirth lit up his face.

**For a brief moment Mr Dursley just continued driving, still in a good mood until his brain caught up with what he'd just seen and he almost screeched to a halt. His head whipped back and he stared back in utter shock at what he'd seen. However while there was a tabby cat sitting sedately at the street corner but there wasn't a map in sight. He blinked rapidly as he tried to process what he'd previously seen. It must have been a trick of the light, he hadn't really seen a cat reading a map.**

**Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind.**

_"I didn't know you'd been there Professor?" Harry asked in surprise_.

_"How do you know it's her?" Ron asked blankly. "It could be just a cat."_

Ron scoffed, a tabby cat reading a map made him instantly think of his Professor. Although why she would be there, he had no idea.

_"Honestly, Ronald," Hermione rolled her eyes. "Even in the muggle world cats don't read signs!"_

"I know that," he grumbled under his breath.

_"Well, it could have just been seeing things couldn't it?" He shot back, a red flush lighting his face._

"It could have been sitting on the map and looking at it," Ron defended of his other self. "This book didn't say how it was reading it."

Hermione opened her mouth but Professor McGongall cut in.

"I was reading a map but when I realised I might have been seen, I got rid of it."

_"Even you, Mr. Weasley have more sense than that," Snape sneered at the boy's stupidity._

"I'm not stupid...sir," Ron said hotly as Snape drawled idly. "Did I ever say you were, Mr Weasley?"

"No," Ron admitted, sitting back with his arms folded.

"So Harry's a moody prat and I'm an idiot in this universe," he grumbled. "Terrific."

**It wasn't difficult for him to get his mind back onto drills and he relaxed. However, as he passed the city centre, he saw something that did not conveniently disappear. There were several groups of people dressed in extremely odd clothing. Clothing which involved cloaks.**

_"Don't muggles wear cloaks?" Emmeline asked in confusion turning to her companion who was very versed in muggle relations._

"I knew that," Arthur said proudly while Harry and Hermione hid smile as they remembered Mr Weasley's attempts to dress like a Muggle. His efforts were considerably better than some of the wizards they'd seen.

_"It is not considered usual muggle attire, no," Kingsley answered._

"Idiots," Moody grumbled, thinking of all the instances when their world had been discovered. Would it kill people to learn how to dress like Muggles?

_"Careless," Moody grunted._

Moody just smirked.

**Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes-the get-ups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on the huddle of these weirdos standing close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald green cloak! **

Harry had a sudden image of Uncle Vernon confronted with someone like Snape or Dumbledore, he would probably have a stroke.

**The nerve of him! **

"The nerve," Fred gasped. "The absolute nerve!"

"I would hope that none of our Professor would dress so outrageously," George added with a straight face as said Professor's either sneered, twinkled or smiled sternly.

**But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt- these people were obviously collecting for something... yes that would be it. **

"Your uncle's not a great one for charity, is he?" Tonks asked, remembering the times she'd seen Muggles dressed funnily in order to raise money for good causes.

**The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

_"Blimey Harry, the way he rationalizes everything away you must have been able to get away with everything!" Neville said in awe. One man noticed the pained expression fleet across the sullen face. He frowned at the conflicting emotions._

"I wish," Harry said. "Anything weird happened, I was the first one they'd blame."

_Fred grinned. "Yeah mum, I really think you need to take lessons from this,"_

_"Become more Dursleyish," George added._

"I most certainly will do nothing of the kind," she said sternly.

_"Cause we never get away with anything," they finished together._

**Mr Dursleys always sat with his back to his office window so that he didn't become distracted by what was happening outside. Which was why he didn't seen the dozens of owls swooping around in the glorious November sunshine which had everyone who was either outside or looking out windows gasping and pointing. Most of them had never seen a real life owl in their entire life and had never expected to see them in such numbers.**

**Mr Dursley was utterly oblivious to this and had a very enjoyable morning which mostly involved shouting at people, making phone calls and a little more shouting.**

_"Wow Mad-Eye, I think he likes to shout more than you!" Tonks tossed out, grinning at her mentor cheekily._

His magical eye rolled over in her direction and gave her the squint. She just grinned at him.

_"Wouldn't have to yell if someone had a bit more respect for authority," he growled pinning her with both eyes._

"I have plenty of respect for authority," she said cheerfully. "You barely have to shout at me anymore."

"Only because I'm retired," he stated as she grinned even more but he wasn't angry.

**At lunchtime, he decided he fancied a bun so he decided to walk over to the local bakery. But as he walked along the street, he saw more of those strange people wearing cloaks and as far as he could see they weren't collecting for anything. He did his best to ignore them and bought himself a large chocolate filled doughnut but as he hurried past one group, he caught some of their words.**

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard-"**

**"-yes, their son, Harry-"**

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them but thought better of it.**

"I'm surprised he knows so much," Hermione said thoughtfully. "He likes to pretend there's no such thing as magic but he seems remarkably well informed.

"Lily and her sister used to exchange Christmas and birthday cards," Sirius told her. "When when Harry's cousin was born, Petunia let Lily know and Lily did the same. I'd guess he's picked up more than he realises, extraordinary as that seems."

**He almost sprinted back to his office and rushed for his phone, heart pounding horribly. He'd just started to dial his number when he paused and then put the receiver back down. No, he was being stupid, it couldn't mean what he thought it meant. After all, Potter wasn't an uncommon name; there were probably loads of Potters who had a son called Harry. Actually, he wasn't even sure that his nephew was called Harry; he'd never seen the boy. It could have been Harold or Harvey, maybe even Hadrian. **

_"He didn't even know your name?" Molly shrieked. "Does he know it now?" She demanded turning to her son's best friend. Most of the younger generation laughed at the thought that he wouldn't after living with him for fourteen years._

"To be fair," Arthur said quietly. "If he hasn't actually met Harry, he might not remember his name especially if he tries to pretend he doesn't have a sister in law. I used to have a great uncle that had a terrible time remembering me and my brother's names. It doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't care, he just might be one of these people that need a face to remember a name."

_Harry was careful to keep a blank expression on his face. "I suppose so," he answered, shrugging. He honestly couldn't remember his uncle ever calling him by name before._

"He knows my name," Harry assured people as they turned to look at me. "Doesn't really use it much but he definitely knows it."

_Several pairs of eyes narrowed at his response but kept quiet for the moment._

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her- if he'd had a sister like that... but all the same, these people in cloaks...**

Harry snorted, thinking of Aunt Marge.

**It was much harder to concentrate on drills now and he was still distracted when he left the office at five. He didn't come out of his day dream until he walked right into someone.**

**"Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell.**

_"Ouch," The twins chorused- picturing the vast size of Harry's uncle._

"Ouch is right," Fred said with wide eyes. "Poor man, probably like being hit with a Bludger."

"**Fear not dear sir, there is absolutely no way anything could upset me today. You-Know-Who is gone at long, long last, it's incredible. Even Muggles like you sir should be rejoicing on this wonderful, utterly wonderful day.**

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

"I thought this guy was tiny?" Ron said in confusion. "How could he have hugged him?"

"Stretching jinx?" Harry suggested, he knew hugging his uncle was no mean feat. When he'd been very young, he'd had to hug his aunt and uncle out in public, for the sake of appearances.

_"Wow, how in the world did he get his arms around him?" Bill asked in amusement as he tried to picture it._

_"Stretching jinx." Ginny answered instantly in a completely serious voice causing the two marauders to stare at her in consideration._

Ginny and Harry glanced at each other before laughing.

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. **

"Now that would be disconcerting," Kingsley laughed. "I think most of us would be baffled if that happened to us."

**He also thought he had been called a muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

_"Of course not," Luna spoke up in her dreamy voice. "He's probably had a run in with a wrackspurt at some point in his life."_

"A what now?" Sirius said in confusion as Arthur chuckled and said.

"This is Xenophilius's daughter we're talking about."

"Ah," Sirius said in more understanding, he'd read enough Quibblers to know how the elder Lovegood saw the world.

_There was a moment of silence as everyone processed this. Sirius turned questioning eyes to his godson who just shrugged but he had a smile on his face._

"That's Luna for you," Ginny said fondly.

_"Indeed Luna, we shall have to look into the possibility," Remus smiled at one of his favourite former students. He was well aware that she often saw the world in a different light._

"How patronising of you, Lupin," Snape sneered as Remus frowned.

"I could be perfectly serious Severus," he told his former classmate as Snape smirked.

"Of course you could," he said as Sirius growled.

He swore if Snape made too many smart arsed comments, he'd have him to answer to.

**When he arrived back home, his dark mood was worsened by the sight of the very same tabby cat he'd spotted this morning. It was perched on his garden wall and looked like it had no intention of moving.**

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.**

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.**

"Put him in detention, Professor," George suggested as she smiled. It was a shame she couldn't make him write lines or scrub toilets.

_"Minnie," Sirius sang receiving the same stern look in response._

"_Excuse_ me Mr Black?" McGonagall said through tight lips.

"That's not me," he said, holding up his hands in surrender. "I would never call you that. My other self clearly has a death wish."

"Hmm," she said suspiciously but looking more mollified.

_Tonks wasn't completely able to hide her laughter at the name._

"I'm glad you find that amusing," McGonagall said lightly.

"I find myself funny," Tonks assured her.

_Remus shook his head at her. "Don't encourage him," He admonished though in truth he was happy to see his friend being more light-hearted. The months confined in the house had been hard on him, in some ways harder than years in Azkaban._

Sirius grimaced at this. He knew he'd been acting moody at times but he couldn't help it. He was stuck in this damn house and doing nothing, just sitting around listening to the likes of Snape reporting on the fight against Voldemort. He should be out there fighting instead of growing fat and useless.

**Was this normal cat behaviour? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife, there was no sense in it.**

**She had had a very nice, perfectly normal day. She excitedly told him all about Mrs Next Door's problems with her own daughter and how Dudley had learned a whole new word ("Won't!")**

_"The goal of every mother..." Molly grumbled. Arthur smiled as he patted his wife on the arm._

**Mr Dusley attempted to act normal so when Dudley was put to bed, he went to watch the evening news to calm himself down.**

"**And finally, there are nationwide reports of owls being seen in broad daylight. As most of our viewers will know, owls are nocturnal creatures `that are rarely seen during the daytime. But that all changed today when seemingly hundreds of owls were seen flying around today. It is unknown why they did this, wildlife experts cannot explain it but are keeping an eye on the situation..."**

**The news report continued with a mention of shootings stars being spotted all over Britain although the weatherman seemed to think it might just be people celebrating Bonfire Night early. **

_"Were people really that obvious?" Charlie asked in surprise._

"They were," Dumbledore said with a slight nod. "But people could not help it. Voldemort was gone, they could finally live freely again. It was a wonderful time in many ways."

_"You have to consider how it was at that time. After years and years of living in fear he was finally gone. It was such a relief, like a huge weight had been removed," Kingsley answered in his deep voice. "They cannot be blamed for expressing their joy."_

"That is a better way of putting it," Dumbledore said with a twinkl as Kingsley smiled even though he hadn't actually said that.

_"You call that expressing their joy? They almost exposed us all didn't they with their celebrations!" Moody snarled._

Mad Eye's lips twisted as he remembered the mess those so called celebrations left. And people like him had had no time for celebrating, they'd been too busy rounding up the 'obvious' Death Eaters but in many cases, they'd been too late to prevent more atrocities. Such as the case of the Longbottoms, poor devils.

**Mr Dursley sat utterly shocked, he could not ignore this. Owls all over the place, shooting stars, mysterious people wearing cloaks...and those murmurs about the Potters. It was no good, he would have to tell his wife and his opportunity came instantly as she arrived with a cup of tea in the living room. Clearing his throat rather nervously, he said.**

**"Er — Petunia, dear — you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

Harry grimaced; he'd never been able to ask questions about his mum. All he'd really known was that she'd existed and died.

"**No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

"**Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls… shooting stars… and there**  
**were a lot of funny-looking people in town today…"**

"**So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

"**Well, I just thought… maybe… it was something to do with… you know… her crowd."**

_"I'm part of her crowd and proud of it!" Hermione declared in a waspish voice, surprising most of the adults._

"And always will be," Hermione agreed.

_"Here, here!" everyone agreed._

Snape scoffed, he doubted that included him. Although he wished his other self's thought weren't being splashed all over this ridiculous book.

**Mrs. Dursley did not look happy as she sipped her tea. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter" but decided against it. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son — he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

"**I suppose so," she replied.**

"**What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

"What happened to Harvey?" Ron sniggered as Harry rolled his eyes.

"My parents were smart enough not to use it," he replied smartly. **  
**  
"**Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

"I think it's a lovely name," Molly exclaimed, all her children had normal names, at least by Muggle standards.

"Thanks Mrs Weasley," Harry said gratefully and she beamed at him.

_"See I tried to tell James that when you were born but he had his heart set on it!" Sirius shook his head sadly._

"Oh you did?" Harry said with a grin and Sirius grinned back at him.

_Harry's head snapped towards his godfather. "You don't like my name?" he yelped indignantly._

_The older man shrugged carelessly. "It's not bad but it's not my first choice."_

_"I believe he wanted Sirius Jr. but Lily shot that down before the name was out of his mouth," Remus filled in, smirking gleefully as the room filled with laughter._

"Sirius Jr?" Harry asked, extremely amused.

Sirius grinned and said. "I thought it was a great suggestion myself."

Harry laughed and said.

"Maybe I'll call one of my kids after you."

Sirius beamed but inside he felt strange. His godson would soon be grown up and it would probably be no time at all until he had his own kids. Where had the time gone?

_"What, it's a very nice name!" Sirius shot back._

"**Yes, your absolutely right my dear," Mr Dursley agreed, his heart sinking. He didn't dare to say anything word on the subject and tried to act normal for the rest of the evening. But just before getting into bed, he had a quick look out of the bedroom window and saw that the cat was still sitting there as though it were waiting for something.**

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did… if it got out that they were related to a pair of — well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

**He stayed awake for quite a while after Mrs Dursleys had fallen asleep, mulling over everything he'd seen and heard. But finally, he started to drift away to sleep and his last comforting thought was that there was no way this could affect them...How very wrong he was.**

_"How I wish he wasn't..." Harry muttered causing his friends to shoot him worried glances._

"Hmm," Harry mumbled in agreement.

**While Mr Dursley slipped off to sleep, the cat remained on the wall, showing no signs of leaving. It didn't move when a car alarm distinctly sounded or when an owl hooted nearby. It only really stirred when a man suddenly appeared on the corner of the street with a slight pop.**

_"Minnie," Remus sang this time, throwing his voice so that McGonagall glared at Sirius instead. The twins grinned in delight at the act but were careful to avoid their Head of House's gaze._

Remus shook his head, even as a joke he would never call his former Head of House that name. It was just far too disrespectful.

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice.**

Albus sighed very slightly at this before continuing.

**This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

_"Yeah!" most of the room cheered. Even Snape's lips twitched at his mentor's description._

The present room also perked up at this description.

_Harry looked down to hide his scowl. Even if he wasn't still mad at the older man for avoiding him for the last six months he knew why Dumbledore was on that street and it wasn't anything good._

Hermione was starting to get a really bad feeling about this Harry's home life.

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome.**

"I had an inkling," Dumbledore said casually, making the young people laugh.

**He started to rummage in his cloak but suddenly paused and looked over at the cat. Smiling, he murmured. "I should have known."**

_"Really Albus? You find amusement in the fact that I sat there all day waiting for you to arrive?" McGonagall's voice had dropped to dangerous levels causing the Marauders, Twins, and the Trio to shrink back into their chairs._

"I was impressed with your promptness," Dumbledore said causing her to say wryly.

"I should hope so, I was there all day."

_Dumbledore glanced over his glasses to smile at her. "I am sure I was just happy to see you there," he replied serenely. Beside him Snape's lips twitched again._

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop.**

"Cool," Ron said, thinking he wouldn't mind having one of those.

_"I want one!" all the men in the room chorused enviously._

"Only the men?" Tonks questioned with a smile.

"It sounds really useful," Hermione agreed earnestly.

_"Very helpful that thing," Moody added._

Moody nodded.

**He clicked it a few more times until all the lights in the street had disappeared. **

"**Good evening Professor McGonagall."**

**Dumbledore serenely made his way down the street until he reached the cat, casually sitting next to her on the wall. But as he turned to her, the tabby cat had gone. In its place, was a severe looking woman wearing square glasses that matched the marking around the cat's eyes. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun and she was wearing an emerald cloak.**

**"How did you know it was me?" she asked, looking a little ruffled.**

_The current students looked at her incredulously while the former ones began laughing. _

_"Really Minerva, who else would I expect it to be?" Dumbledore asked gently._

"I was tired," she said stiffly.

"**My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

**"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall, not happy at all.**

"**All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

"Hmph," she huffed.

"**People should be more careful," Professor McGonagall said with an angry sniff. "Even the Muggles have started to notice something funny's on. I saw it on their news."**

**She jerked in the direction of the Dursley's living room. **

"**I could hear the news report, owls all over the place, shooting stars. Well, their not completely stupid..."**

Hermione frowned, she hated that condescending attitude to those who weren't magical. Her parents where Muggles but they'd both been to University and had highly skilled jobs, they were anything but stupid. Why did witches and wizards act like they were?

"**...they were bound to notice something. Those shooting stars in Kent, I bet that was Dedalus Diggle, he never had much sense.**

_"Still doesn't," Moody grumbled but no one took notice. Everyone had realized what was about to happen and the room had grown quite tense._

**"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

"**That as may be," Professor McGonagall said irritably. "But that is absolutely no reason for us to completely lose our heads. People are being so careless, they marching out onto Muggle streets with their cloaks, talking about what has happened. Wouldn't it be a fine thing if on the very day You-Know-Who has gone, that the muggles discovered our existence? I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

"**It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore.**

_"Did you suspect then that he wasn't gone?" Bill asked leaning forward. "Did you know that he would come back?"_

_Dumbledore looked thoughtful as he thought back. "Right at that moment? I was undecided. I had not yet had the time to think it through or to investigate things."_

"I suspected he wasn't gone," Dumbledore told them. "In fact I was sure he wasn't but it was entirely possible that he was truly gone. But it would have been madness not to take precautions, for all I knew, he could come back at any time."

**"We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

**"A what?"**

"**A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**

"Ah Sherbet Lemon," Dumbledore said fondly. "I do indeed like them."

_"Albus," McGonagall shook her head as the room laughed. "Don't think I don't know what you were trying to do or what you have in those candies of yours."_

_"I am sure I have no idea what you are talking about." he responded his eyes twinkling madly. "I merely find that they have a very calming effect."_

"Sugar is good for the nerves," Remus agreed with a small smile, thinking how he'd packed chocolate especially for his teaching year at Hogwarts. With all those Dementors floating around, he knew he'd need it for both himself and the students.

_"Precisely," she sniffed._

"You don't really dope your sweets do you?" Geroge asked rather eagerly, wondering if he and Fred could do something similar.

"No, no, I prefer them un-tampered with," Dumbledore said with a twinkling. "Some of these Muggle sweets you get are particularly enjoyable. Speaking of which..."

He took out a bag of liquorice and offered it round, all the kids took some but only Tonks and Arthur had some as well. Smiling broadly, Dumbledore continued reading.

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for Sherbert lemons. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone —"**

**"My dear Professor, I still cannot believe that such a sensible person such as yourself cannot call him by his real name, Voldemort!"**

Harry unconsciously nodded at this.

_Around the room the younger Weasleys, Neville and Luna winced while Snape barely managed to repress a shudder at the sound of the name._

_"Oh get over it already!" Harry snapped angrily._

Snape glared at Harry, he'd like to see the brat 'get over it' if he had the damned Dark Mark burned into his skin.

_Remus reached over and tapped him on the back of the head. "While I share the sentiment, your tone needs to change," he warned quietly._

"Harry's always insisting we call him by his name," Ron piped up.

"And one day, you'll say it," Harry declared. "Only took me four years to get Hermione to say it."

"I'm surprised it took you that long," Sirius said curiously and she shrugged.

"I was told I couldn't mention the name," she replied. "That it was practically taboo and I wanted to fit in so I called him You-Know-Who. And I suppose I did end up fearing him, after he tried to kill Harry."

Sirius nodded, he knew he shouldn't scoff. Of course as a Muggleborn, she'd copy what her fellow classmates were doing and end up always calling Voldemort You-Know-Who. He was just glad she could now call him by his name.

**She flinched at that, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two sherbet lemons, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."**

"I agree," Sirius said boldly as Snape sneered. Of course a rich pureblood wouldn't have a problem, especially an idiotic Gryffindor one.

**"I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."**

"You said his name," Harry said with a smile as she nodded.

"**You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

"Good thing too," muttered Mad Eye.

"**Only because you're too — well —noble to use them."**

Dumbledore remembered those words, in some ways, they were very true.

"**It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

McGonagall shook her head, that was her old friend for you.

_"Really Dumbledore, I didn't need that image in my head!"_

_Tonks burst out laughing as everyone else started at Kingsley in shock. It was not something they would have expected him to say._

Kingsley just raised an eyebrow.

**She shot him a sharp look and said. "That's not the only thing. Do you know what people are saying, about why he disappeared? What finally stopped him?"**  
**  
They had finally reached it, the whole reason for her being there, why owls were flying around in daytime and why magical folk were appearing in public with their cloaks. She fixed him with a piercing look and carried on.**

"**What they're saying...is that sometime last night, Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow to find the Potters. The rumour everyone is talking about is that...Lily and James Potter are...are, that they're dead."**  
**  
**There was a grave silence as Dumbledore paused for a moment. Sirius and Remus were the most affected, followed closely by Snape although he was careful not to reveal his inner emotions. Harry wasn't sure what to feel, he was sad that his parents were dead but it was such a long time ago and he'd never known them. He almost felt like he wasn't doing them justice by not being as badly affected as the others were.

He didn't say anything, not knowing how to explain himself.

_There was a moment of silence as everyone bowed their heads in respect. Sirius found that his own heartbreaking grief was abated somewhat by the need to comfort his godson. Reaching over he ruffled the untidy hair before gently massaging the exposed neck. He didn't notice the younger wizard tensing at the feel of a hand in his hair._

Sirius tensed, he didn't like the sound of that.

_Across the room Severus Snape squeezed his eyes tightly closed at hearing about the death his closest friend. He had an inkling of what Potter must have been feeling upon hearing about the books and he almost felt sorry for him._

Naturally, this was too much for Harry.

"Close friend?" he repeated, staring at Snape in shock, along with all the kids and some of the adults. "What do you mean, close friend?"

"That was the book talking Potter," Snape retorted scathing as Harry looked at him suspiciously.

"You've never mentioned my mum," he said in realisation. "Just my dad but you were all in the same year together."

"We were," Remus confirmed as Snape's expression darkened.

Harry looked from Remus to Snape then to Sirius and back again to Snape.

"So is it true?" he demanded of them. "Was my mum your friend?"

"Do you really think I could have been friends with her when she was with your father," Snape scoffed, his face a little paler than normal.

Harry paused, he didn't know loads about his parents' schooldays but he knew that Snape and his dad had loathed each other. And of course his mother would have been friends with his dad before marrying him so it did seem rather strange that she'd also be friends with one of his dad's enemies.

Dumbledore decided at that point to continue although Sirius had been about to make a comment. Remus had stopped him with a shake of his head. The truth would come out; he'd rather get this chapter over before they discussed it.

Harry was still frowning but seemed prepared for now to accept that logic that his mum couldn't have been friends with James and Snape at the same time.

**He slowly bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped. **"**Lily and James… I can't believe it… I didn't want to believe it… Oh, Albus…"**

"Where you close to my mum and dad, Professor?" Harry asked.

"They were very talented students," she said softly. "And they'd only just left Hogwarts; it was a hard loss Mr Potter."

It was impossible to remember all the students she'd ever had, even the ones that had been in Gryffindor. But Lily and James had made an impression on her and she had been devastated when they'd been killed. And obviously, she was always going to remember them now.

**The old man reached out a hand to pat her on the shoulder. "I know...I know," he said heavily.**

**Her voice trembled as she said. "But that's not all, they're also saying that he tried to kill the Potter's son Harry but...he couldn't do it. He couldn't kill that little boy. And no one knows why or how but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, his power somehow broke and that's why he's gone.**

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

"**It's — it's **_**true**_**?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done… all the people he's killed… he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding… of all the things to stop him… but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

_"Something I'm sure we'd all like to know," Emmeline said quietly._

_Harry looked up in surprise. "You don't know?" he asked turning to look at the Headmaster._

"Do you know?" Kingsley asked the headmaster who said. "I have a theory."

"You always have a theory," Sirius said with a roll of his eyes as Harry said. "If this book follows all the events of my first year, it's explained at the end."

_"I felt it's better to limit the amount of people who know certain information," the older man answered, smiling apologetically at the woman._

"I did not want Voldemort or his followers finding out for as long as possible," Dumbledore explained as Harry couldn't help but wonder how much Wormtail had overheard. He really hoped it wasn't that much.

_Harry huffed angrily under his breath. "Oh, yeah I know all about that!" he snarled._

Harry looked away; he had been feeling angry all year about not being told anything. He could understand where this Harry was coming from.

_"So does this mean you'll tell us now?" Fred and George asked eagerly._

"Nice try," Kingsley chuckled as the twins inclined their heads dramatically in thanks.

_"I am sure the books will fill everyone in," the headmaster explained gently, his voice tired. Feeling the dark haired teen's gaze he kept his eyes fixed firmly on the floor._

Needless to say, Harry was very glad that Dumbledore could look him in the eye now.

"**We can only guess." said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

**Professor McGonagall now pulled out a lacy handkerchief and delicately dabbed her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore himself gave a great sniff before taking out a beautiful gold watch and examining it. It was an extremely odd watch with twelve hands but no numbers: it had tiny planets moving around the edge. However, it must have made perfect sense to Dumbledore because he replaced it in his pocket and said.**

**"Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

"**Yes," said Professor McGonagall with a slight nod. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me **_**why **_**you're here, of all places?"**

"**I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

_"Why are they my only family though?" Harry asked suddenly. "Didn't I have grandparents, cousins, anything?"_

"No," Sirius said heavily. "No close relatives apart from your aunt and cousin. Both sets of your grandparents died before you were born, the Potters were killed by Death Eaters and the Evans died in a car crash."

"Evans?" Harry said slowly. "That was my mum's name?"

"You didn't know?" Sirius asked and Harry shook his head.

"No, I don't know much about her," Harry said with a shrug.

"We'll tell you all about her later," Sirius promised firmly as Harry glanced at Snape briefly. Even though he doubted Snape had been her friend, it would still be nice to meet one of her close friends.

_Sirius frowned. "You don't know anything about James family do you?" he asked sadly. "I'll tell you about them later." he promised when Harry shook his head._

"I'll tell you about your grandparents as well," Sirius added, thinking of how kind the Potters had been. If only Harry could have known them.

"**What?" Professor McGonagall cried. "You can't possibly mean the people here? Dumbledore, I've been watching them all day, they are the worst Muggles out there. They have this son, I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. You're seriously suggesting that Harry Potter come and live here?"**

_"Thank you, Minerva, for at least trying to talk sense into him," Molly Weasley huffed. Emmeline and Tonks nodded their heads in agreement._

**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"Or not," Harry muttered.

_"A letter?" Remus asked in shock. "You thought they would be able to understand everything from a letter? Did Voldemort's apparent demise leave you temporarily senseless?" His voice had risen until he was close to shouting._

Everyone turned to stare at Remus in shock; they couldn't believe he'd say such a thing even if it was from another universe. He flushed and mumbled. "I-I'm sorry sir."

"Think nothing of it," Dumbledore said with a twinkle. "It's not you saying those words Remus but even if it was, I wouldn't mind."

"Thank you," Remus said gratefully, feeling like he was back in school.

_Everyone looked at him in shock. Grateful for allowing him to come to school Remus had always been one of Dumbledore's biggest supporters and to hear him question the older man was unheard of. Added to that the werewolf was adamant about keeping his emotions firmly in check due to his condition, his loss of control was surprising._

"That is true," Remus agreed heavily.

_"I felt it was the best way," Dumbledore answered gravely, the tone of his voice warning against further questioning._

"It gave them something physical to read again and again if they wished," Dumbledore explained. "Sometimes, it is easier to give someone important information in a letter than telling them, people often forget things they've been told. I made sure to include all the relative information and to impress upon them how important it was that Harry be kept safe."

He looked at Harry and said.

"I know you have not had a good time there Harry. But they still took you in and protected you from harm, providing a safe haven that Voldemort and his Death Eater cannot penetrate until you're of age."

"I didn't know that," Harry said quietly. "They really protected me?"

"They did," Dumbledore said with a nod. "They didn't treat you like their son but they still brought you up as a normal boy. But from what I've heard, in a strange way it's perhaps best they didn't treat you like your cousin."

Harry made a face at the thought of being as fat as Dudley or having his temperament. Even though a part of him had always wished for their love, he could see the danger of having them love him too much as weird as that was.

_"Then why do I have the feeling that it wasn't?" the werewolf shot back causing Snape to scowl._

_"How dare you question the headmaster?" he snapped._

"Thank you Severus," Dumbledore said with another twinkle.

Snape said nothing.

**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall.**  
**Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter?**

"I think he does," Fred stated.

_"See? McGonagall agrees with me," Remus mumbled but under his breath. Sirius bumped shoulders with him in commiseration._

To lighten his friend up, Sirius did the same and managed to bring a smile to Remus's morose face.

**These people will never understand him! He'll be famous — a legend — I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future**

"What?" Harry yelped in horror that sounded terrible.

"It didn't happen," Mad Eye said with a grin at Harry's horror.

Harry slumped back down, very relieved.

_Harry looked up in horror. "There isn't is there?" he croaked._

Harry knew exactly what other Harry felt.

_"No," Kingsley answered but he was grinning. "I believe the paperwork for the approval got lost in all the hubbub of rebuilding."_

"They were serious about that?" Harry said in horror.

"Well, it makes sense," Hermione commented. "The Muggle world has similar things like Martin Luther King Jr day."

Harry made a face; he still didn't like the sound of having a Harry Potter day. Bloody Malfoy would never let him hear the end of it.

_"Thank Merlin," he breathed, causing most of the group to laugh._

_Snape echoed the words in his mind shuddering at the thought of the brat being even more acclaimed than he was._

Harry rolled his eyes, followed by Ron as Hermione shook her head.

— **there will be books written about Harry — every child in our world will know his name!"**

"Unfortunately," Harry muttered as Snape sneered, the boy couldn't mean that.

"**Precisely," said Dumbledore, a very serious expression on his worn face. "Imagine having to grow up with that, being famous before you can walk and talk. It's enough to turn any child's head, can't you see how much better off he'll be away from all that until he's old enough to deal with it.**

"I wanted you to have a normal childhood growing up," Dumbledore said softly. "I did not want you burdened with this before you were ready."

Harry thought about it for a moment, trying to imagine people gawking at him his whole life, whispering about him, always expecting him to live up to his supposed reputation. It sounded horrible.

Remus grimaced. While he didn't like the idea of Harry living with his relatives, he remembered how James was and could understand Dumbledore's reasoning. Harry was one of the most modest people he'd ever met, the idea of him enjoying, encouraging his fame was too much to bear. And it could have gone the other way, Harry could have shunned it so much that he became an introverted loner that never allowed anyone near.

**Professor McGonagall looked like she might argue but then changed her mind. Swallowing, she said. "Yes...yes you're right of course. But how is the boy getting here?"**

**She suddenly eyed his cloak as though he might be hiding Harry underneath.**

_"Gross!" the teenagers gagged._

The teenagers in the room wrinkled their noses at that.

"**Hagrid's bringing him."**

"**You think it —**_**wise **_— **to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"I did," Sirius said quietly.

"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

_"I'm just not so sure you should trust him with important information..." Hermione muttered to her best friends remembering all the slips the half giant had made in their first year._

"What slips?" Molly demanded as McGonagall sighed. "Oh Hagrid."

_Ron snorted. "Or pets," he added, thinking of the various animals he had come into contact with courtesy of Hagrid._

The trio all grimaced as they thought about Fluffy, Norbert, Aragog, the Blast Ended Skrewts, the list went on.

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to — what was that?"**

**A sudden rumbling sound was steadily growing and both Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore turned to look down the street for the source but there was nothing. A beam of light appeared above them and they looked up just as a huge motorbike fell out of the sky and landed squarely on the road in front of them.**

**The motorbike might have been huge but it was nothing compared to the man ridding it. He was twice as tall as a normal man and definitely about five times as wide. He looked far too big to be allowed and was utterly wild with tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face. His hands were the size of dustbin lids and his feet encased in their leather boots were like baby dolphins.**

"How did you manage to ride that?" Ginny asked Sirius, if Hagrid had rode that with ease, how would a normal sized man manage?

"Sheer talent," he said with a wink, he knew why she was asking. But the best way to explain would be to show and sadly, Hagrid still had his bike.

_"That's a very sinister description of him," Charlie said frowning. He was very friendly with the gamekeeper. "It makes him sound dangerous."_

Harry flushed slightly, he had thought Hagrid looked dangerous when he first met him but thankfully the large man had quickly dispelled that notion.

_"Don't worry about it. Everyone here knows Hagrid and knows he's not dangerous," Bill pointed out effectively calming his closest sibling._

**Cradled in his massive, muscular arms, he was gently holding a little bundle.**

"**Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding very relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorbike?"**

"From my favourite godfather," Harry stated as Sirius barked out a laugh.

"Ha, I'm your only godfather."

"Yeah but your still my favourite," Harry shot back making the older man grin.

"**Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant as he carefully climbed off the motorbike as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

Sirius smiled at this, he'd done one thing right that night.

**"There were no problems, were there?"**

"**No, sir — house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

"Can I ask something?" Hermione suddenly asked, a little timidly as she didn't really want to interrupt the flow but something had just occurred to her.

"Of course Miss Granger," Dumbledore said encouragingly while Snape looked bored.

"Why did it take so long for Hagrid to arrive," she asked. "I mean, the attack must have happened a good twenty four hours previously, it surely wouldn't have taken Hagrid that long to fly there."

"Ah, that is a good question," Dumbledore said with a nod as everyone, especially Harry looked curious.

"You see," he began, placing the open book on his lap for a moment. "Initially, the explosion created almost a dome of magic, driving Muggles away from it which is why none of them recovered you. Secondly, for several hours it was not possible to touch you."

"What?" Harry said in confusion.

"Because of your mother's protection," Dumbledore said simply. "It created a protection so powerful that no one could cast a spell on you or even pick you up. A member of the Order discovered the state of the house but they had no means to take you away. They contacted me and I sent Hagrid to get you. I knew that no Muggle would bother him and only he was strong enough to lift up the debris without magic. While he was doing this, I was making sure that Voldemort truly had gone...back then at least and what was happening with his followers. Thankfully, he received some help from Sirius."

He smiled at Sirius who grimly nodded.

"Hagrid also made sure you'd been fed and were alright," Dumbledore added. "I do not know how long that took but it was nightfall by the time he was on his way with you. Word of what happened had already spread, as you've seen."

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep.**

Molly felt a very real pang of nostalgia for all her beautiful babies.

Sirius also felt a pang but of a different kind as he remembered seeing baby Harry for the very last time before Hagrid had flown off with him.

_"Aw..." all the women cooed causing the Harry to turn a bright shade of red._

_"When we take a break I have baby pictures upstairs if anyone's interested," Sirius offered grinning at the excited looks on Molly, Tonks and Emmeline's faces._

"You have pictures?" Harry asked with interest. He did have an album but he suspected that none if any had come from Sirius."

"Of course," Sirius said with a grin. "I found some in a drawer the other day...before you all came for Christmas. I can show you them later."

"I'd like that," Harry said with a smile.

_"What?" Harry yelped looking at his godfather in indignation._

"That's how most boys act towards baby pictures," Tonks teased as Harry grinned.

"Most boys have seen them already," he quipped.

"Just wait," Ron hissed to him. "Once mum gets hold of them, she'll show them to everyone she can get her hands on."

_"Oh, no you don't young man!" Mrs. Weasley scolded. "I want to see those pictures!"_

"That would be nice," Molly said with a smile while mentally deciding to bring some albums of baby pictures of her own children.

**Under a small tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

Harry's hand twitched as everyone unconsciously glanced at his scar, he felt the urge to smooth his fridge down but knew this would just draw even more attention to it.

"**Is that where —?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

"**Yes," said Dumbledore quietly. "He'll have that scar forever."**

Harry grimaced.

**"Is there nothing you can do about it, Dumbledore?"**

"**Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well — give him here, Hagrid — we'd better get this over with."**

"How did you get that?" Ron asked but Dumbledore just smiled mysteriously.

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursley's house.**

"**Could I — could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

"Believe me, that's not at all pleasant," Remus said as Sirius elbowed him.

"**Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "You'll wake the Muggles!"**

"**S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it —Lily an' James dead — an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles —"**

"That in its self wasn't bad," Harry said as Ron said.

"Would have been weird to Hagrid, growing up in the wizarding world."

Harry nodded, remembering how Hagrid had pointed and exclaimed perfectly ordinary Muggle things like escalators as though they were alien objects. He would have loved to have grown up like Ron surrounded by magic but it was nice to know exactly what a telephone was and how to handle Muggle money. Virtually all those who'd grown up in the magical world were automatically crippled as soon as they encountered anything even remotely Muggle.

"**Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He gently laid Harry down on the doorstep, before taking out a letter and tucking it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two.**

"The doorstep?" Hermione exclaimed in shock as Harry shrugged.

"That's how they found me," he said simply.

"But...but surely that was really dangerous," Hermione said as her Head of House stated.

"He was in no danger," the older women replied. "Not only did we place charms on him to protect him from the night but I remained there in cat form. I made sure Mr Potter slept through the night and that nothing came near him. I only left once Petunia had discovered him and taken him in."

"I didn't know that," Harry murmured, he'd never really thought about the fact he'd been left on the doorstep. It had just always been a fact of his past; his relatives took him in after his parents had been killed in a car crash. And after he'd found out the truth of how they'd died and how Hagrid had taken him to them, he'd seen no reason to question it further.

_The laughing atmosphere of the room died in an instant as they all turned to gape at Dumbledore._

"I don't think they're going to take this well," murmured Bill, he'd been mostly silent for this chapter, just wanting to listen.

_"You left him on the doorstep? In November!" Molly Weasley shrieked in anger._

Molly pursed her lips, even with the Transfiguration's explanation, she wasn't terribly happy about what had happened. But she didn't want to have a go at the headmaster in front of all the children.

_"I hardly think that was wise, Albus," Moody growled at his friend. "And I'm surprised you allowed it, Minerva."_

"It's not what I would have done," growled Mad Eye. "I'd have woken them straight up."

_"There was little I could do!" she defended herself. "He was quite determined that his way was right."_

_"You cowardly, cowardly old man," came a low voice. Sirius was glaring at Dumbledore with a fierce light in his eyes. "You left him on the doorstep with a letter because you didn't want to have to face them. You didn't want to interact with the lowly muggles."_

"It had nothing to do with the fact they were Muggles," Dumbledore said with a firm edge to his tone. "But the fact they are humans just like us."

"Sir?" Harry said in confusion and Dumbledore said.

"Their instinct upon finding you was to take you in even though they were shocked and possibly angry."

Molly nodded, if she found a little baby on her doorstep, she would have moved almost literally at the speed of light to take it inside.

_Dumbledore flinched inwardly. "I could not take the chance to that they would refuse the care of him." The finality of the words ended the conversation but the feelings of outrage and anger remained._

"The charm was activated when Petunia took you in," Dumbledore admitted after quickly reading the next part. "And once they had decided to keep you, the blood wards were set. Your mother's sacrifice was complete."

Harry considered this, he had a lot of questions, and he'd had them since he found out about his mother's sacrifice. At least it seemed a lot of those questions were going to be answered so he was actually content to wait for them.

**They stood there for a little while, watching the little bundle as Hagrid sobbed into his handkerchief. Professor McGonagall was blinking rather furiously and Dumbledore had no twinkle in his eyes.**

"You know it was serious then," Fred said gravely.

"**Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

"**Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I best return this bike away. G'night, Professor McGonagall — Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve with a loud sniff, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorbike and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

"I hope he's taking care of that," Sirius said although he knew Hagrid would be.

"**I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore walked along Privet Drive, taking out his sliver Put-Outer as he did so. As he passed each light, he clicked it and the balls of light flew to their respective lampposts. He glanced back at the little bundle sitting on Number Four.**

"**Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**  
**  
A light breeze gently ruffled the neat and orderly hedges of Privet Drive which lay quiet and tidy under the velvety sky. Little Harry Potter twitched and then rolled over in his blankets, sleeping peacefully. A little hand was closed around the letter beside him and he continued to sleep, not knowing that he was special, that he was famous and especially not knowing that in a few hours time he would be open by Mrs Dursley's scream as she went to put out the milk bottles. He didn't know that for the next few weeks he would pinched and prodded by his cousin Dudley. **

Ron wrinkled his nose; he could easily remember his older twin brothers doing similar things to him when he was tiny.

**And he especially couldn't know that all over the country, people in secret were meeting and holding up their glasses, murmuring. "To Harry Potter- the boy who lived!"**

All the adults inclined their heads in acknowledgment as Harry flushed slightly.

_There was silence around the room, the teenagers too intimidated by the previous argument to make comments. Remus was sitting forward with his head in his hands while Molly was gesturing angrily to her husband._

"Whoa," George murmured.

_Snape sat on the other side of the room in contemplative silence. He understood why Dumbledore had acted as he did but the thought of Lily's reaction kept him quiet. The red headed mother would have disembowelled the older man for his treatment of her son._

Once again, Harry's head snapped towards Snape who had no expression on his face.

"How is this Snape friends with my mum?" he questioned with a frown, seeing that Sirius and Remus looked a little shifty.

"That's Professor to you Potter," Snape said silkily.

"Is there anything left of this chapter?" Remus asked and Dumbledore quickly read.

_Restless Sirius jumped up from the couch and headed to the kitchen part of the room. Soon he was back with a tray of snacks and bottles of butterbeer. "Are we going to read this bloody book or not?" he growled._

"That's it," he said softly.

"Harry," Remus started to say as Snape glared at him. "Lily wasn't really friends with James for their first few years at Hogwarts."

"She wasn't?" Harry said in shock.

"No, they both moved in different circles," Remus explained. "Our class was a lot bigger than yours; we had about thirty students in our House alone. So in First year as I'm sure you experienced, we split into our own little groups and didn't interact a great deal with the others unless it was class or House related."

"So mum was...?" Harry questioned and it was Sirius who said curtly.

"She was friends with Snape until the end of Fifth year."

Harry and his friends gaped at the man before Harry turned incredulously towards Snape.

"You never told me," he accused as Snape looked at him contemptuously.

"And why _would_ I tell you, Potter," he said coldly as Harry stared at him in disbelief.

"Why the hell wouldn't you?" Harry said furiously. "She was my mum and I don't know anything about her, maybe I would have liked someone to tell me something, anything about her."

Snape didn't reply but his expression was darker. Before any of the adults could intervene, Harry now demanded.

"And why did you stop being friends with her?"

"You would have to ask your dear godfather," Snape said hatefully, shooting Sirius a look of loathing. "I'm sure he'd be delighted to tell you why."

Sirius growled and started to stand but Remus grabbed his arm.

"We were all stupid and immature," he said quietly. "And I regret what happened."

"Yes, you always did enjoy regretting in the background," Snape spat, bitterness heavy in his tone.

"That will do," Dumbledore said, holding up a hand.

Looking at Harry he said.

"I think this book will reveal more details Harry. I believe the story of what happened in your parents fifth year might take quite a while."

Harry glanced back at Snape and his dad's friends, seeing that Snape looked distinctly tight lipped. He sighed and nodded at the headmaster, he would drop the subject for now.

"Blimey," Ron muttered as Harry sat back down.

"Yeah," Harry muttered, wondering how the hell his mum could ever have been friends with his hated Potion's teacher.

_Author's note. Hope you've all enjoyed how I've changed the original bold text, it's much shorter in places and I tried to basically summon the original up. Does this satisfy everyone?_


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's note. Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up, I was busy with Christmas and stuff. Hope you all enjoy this new chapter, as I said before, the stuff in italics belongs to MySecretThoughts while the bold stuff has been adapted from JK's work. You will notice I've changed it so it's not directly copied from the book._

_I'm not sure when I'll be able to next update, I'm going on holiday next week for two weeks but I will try to update as soon as possible._

_Enjoy and please review._

"Who would like to read next?" Dumbledore asked pleasantly and Professor McGonagall offered to.

As she took the book and cleared her throat, Harry glanced at Snape who wasn't looking at him. He was still reeling from the shock of finding out that his hated potions professor had once been friends with his mum. And naturally, he wanted to know exactly how that had worked but everyone was being extremely tight lipped about it, making him even more curious.

**"The Vanishing Glass,"**

"Oh," Harry exclaimed in delight. "I know what this is."

His grin made the adults relax; perhaps this would be a much more light hearted chapter.

"What is it?" Ron hissed and Harry whispered back.

"You'll see."

_Professor McGonagall started, a look of interest on her face. She needed to hear more about her student's home life with those despicable people. It shocked her how much she had missed based on a few suggestions from the old coot next to her._

"Old coot is perhaps a bit harsh," she said dryly making said coot chuckle.

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all.**

"That's Privet Drive for you," Harry said mildly.

_"Aww, ten years. The little baby boy I used to bounce on my knee is all grown up!" Sirius said with a smile, happy that he had the opportunity to tease his godson. He'd been able to spend far too little time with the kid during his life._

_"Oh, shut it," the teenager growled back as he turned red, though he was unable to hide a small smile._

This Harry also smiled; he wouldn't mind a bit more teasing from his godfather. Remus and Sirius were thinking reminiscently about when Harry had been a baby, where had the time gone?

**As the sun rose, it lit up the straight, tidy front gardens and illuminated the brass number four of Privet Drive, creeping into the living room which looked almost exactly the same as the night when Mr Dursley had watched that fateful news report of owls. It was the photos on the mantelpiece that indicated just how much time had passed since then. Ten years ago, there had been loads of pictures of what appeared to be a large pink beach ball wearing different coloured bonnets.**

"Did your aunt and uncle have a pet beach ball?" Ginny asked with a snigger.

"Close enough," Harry replied. A large pink beach ball described baby Dudley extremely well.

_"Harry, I do love the very vivid imagination you seem to have," Dumbledore mused. There was general laughter around the room and sounds of agreement._

"I didn't write this but thanks Professor," Harry said, wondering what it would be like to actually write a book. One thing he knew for sure was that Hermione would be all over it and he'd probably be forced to rewrite it several times.

_"You come by it naturally Mr. Potter," McGonagall added. "Both James and Lily used to tell the most outrageous stories." She informed him causing Sirius and Remus to burst out into laughter. Harry watched them enviously, wishing he'd known that earlier._

"Mum too?" Harry asked Sirius and Remus. He knew his dad had been a joker but this was a new fact about his mum.

"She had a very vivid imagination," Remus said fondly. "She used to make up her own fairy stories to tell you."

"Really?" Harry said softly, trying to imagine how this would have been. Aunt Petunia hadn't been big on reading stories, she'd read some to Dudley when he'd been little but had preferred to let him watch the television. Since Dudley had also preferred this particular parental decision, that was how it had been in the Dursley household. It was a shame as Harry had enjoyed stories when he'd been little but hadn't had much opportunity to hear or read them.

**However Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby and the photographs now showed a very large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a merry go round at the fair, playing a computer game with his father and being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign a second boy lived in the house too.**

"Impossible," Molly exclaimed. "You can't have more than one child living in a house with no sign of them."

"Maybe Harry was good at tidying his stuff up?" Tonks suggested doubtfully.

"All...of my stuff was kept in my room," Harry said carefully. "I didn't leave it out in case Dudley wrecked it."

He didn't mention the fact that he barely had any possessions.

Molly tutted her disapproval, her boys could be rough but they didn't treat each other's possessions that disrespectfully. However, Harry's explanation made enough sense for everyone to relax even though they didn't like it.

_"Wait," Remus requested, sitting forward and turning to frown at Harry. "Why aren't there any pictures of you?"_

_The teenager shrugged, trying to hide his unease. "Guess I'm that ugly?" he offered in a desperate voice._

"Well you are but that can't be the only reason," Ron stated as Harry shoved him.

"You're saying I'm uglier than Dudley?" he challenged.

"Well, it's hard to beat someone of your cousin's distinctive looks," Ron said seriously as Harry smirked.

"Guess I can't argue with that," he said as Snape tapped his fingers impatiently. Just get on with the damn book.

_Snape snorted to himself. More likely the muggles had noticed how vain the brat was and removed the pictures._

"Hey," Sirius roared in outrage as Harry blinked before saying in a dull tone.

"Yep, that's exactly it."

Snape merely offered him a curl of his lips.

_"Please continue, Minerva." the werewolf growled, not taking his eyes off Harry._

**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.**

**"Up! Get up! Now!"**

Harry wrinkled his nose, glad he didn't have to listen to that anymore.

_"Merlin, do all mothers sound that way? Mine did," Tonks mused in an attempt to diffuse the tension. The two men sitting beside her had deep frowns while Harry was trying his best to disappear into the cushions._

"Did she?" Ginny asked Tonks who grinned.

"I wouldn't say shrill but she usually did have to yell to get me up in the mornings."

_"Our's does too." Fred offered with a cheeky grin though he was watching his friend with a concerned eye._

_"I do not Fred Weasley." Molly protested hotly, oblivious to the strained atmosphere._

"Only joking mum," Fred said as his mother glared at him. "Your melodious voice is the highlight of our morning."

"Hmph," she snorted but relaxed.

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

**"Up!" she screeched.**

**Harry could hear her walking back to the kitchen and the faint sound of a frying pain being placed onto the stove. He turned onto his back and thought about the dream he'd been having, it had been a really good one. There had been a flying motorbike in it and he had a funny feeling he'd dreamt about it before.**

"You dreamt about that?" Sirius said in both amazement and delight.

"Guess I did," Harry agreed. He couldn't remember it as clearly as he could before but he did recall enjoying it.

"Well, when my innocence is proved, we're getting on that, remember that," Sirius said firmly, making all the boys and Ginny grin.

"Sounds great," Harry said.

_Sirius nudged his godson at the mention of his old motorbike noticing as he did that the kid's body was as tense as a board. Turning, he saw that his face was completely white. "Harry? Are you okay?"_

_"Can we please, please skip this chapter?" Harry whispered in a strained voice, his eyes downcast._

"Huh?" Harry said in confusion. He couldn't understand why his other self was acting like this, nothing really bad happened. In fact, it was pretty funny what happened with the snake.

_"No." Remus responded. He felt more than saw his best friend turn to him. He knew there would be an accusing look directed his way. "We have to know, Sirius. More happened in that house than we're being told. If this is how we find out then so be it," he explained tiredly._

_Sirius nodded in resignation. Harry would never talk about his past unless he was forced to._

"Well that's true," Ron commented on.

"What?" he said as Harry shot him a look. "You never talk about it."

"Nothing to tell," Harry stated. "You can sum it up pretty quickly. And most of that is pretty boring."

_"Sorry kiddo," he whispered reaching over the edge of their couches to run a hand through the messy hair. He forced himself to remain quiet when the teenager jerked away from his touch._

"Sorry," Harry mumbled, he knew that would have hurt his godfather.

"It's not you doing it," Sirius said gently.

_"Harry?" Hermione asked quietly as she leaned her shoulder against his. "Is it really that bad, what's coming up?"_

_He let out a huge sigh, but still turned away from his godfather. "Just embarrassing," he assured her._

Harry thought about this, he couldn't remember anything particularly embarrassing happening. He supposed they'd see soon enough what the problem was.

**His aunt was back outside the door. "Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

**"Nearly," said Harry**.

"**Well move yourself, I need you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, everything must be perfect for Duddy's birthday."**

**Harry groaned.**

"_Selfish brat,"_ Snape thought to himself.

**"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.**

**"Nothing, nothing…"**

**Dudley's birthday, how could he ever have forgotten? He slowly climbed out of bed and started feeling for socks, finding a pair under the bed and pulling a spider off one of them, **

"Sounds horrible," Ron said with a slight shudder.

_"Really mate, you had to mention spiders?" Ron groaned causing the twins to laugh._

_"Guys, not now," Bill cautioned with a stern look. He could tell something unpleasant was fixing to unfold and wanted to get it over with as soon as possible._

Sirius frowned; he didn't like the sound of that.

**put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.**

"Oh that's probably it," Harry said as he realised what other Harry had been embarrassed about. "I thought it was something bad."

"You don't think this is something bad?" Remus said, shocked.

Harry shrugged as people gaped at him; even Snape was raising an eyebrow.

"I've got my own room now, doesn't matter," he said as Arthur questioned.

"But why didn't you have your own room, Harry?"

"It was Dudley's second bedroom," Harry explained. "But you'll see why they gave me it later on in this book."

Beside him, Ron felt strange. Being from such a large family, he'd never really had anything that wasn't second hand but he'd never been forced to sleep in a cupboard. Was it wrong to feel pleased that he'd gotten something better than his best friend?

_There was complete silence, a silence so complete it was like Harry couldn't hear at all. Oddly the cold feeling reminded him of a dementor attack. He was half tempted to cast a Patronus to lighten the atmosphere._

Moody snorted at this suggestion.

_"Professor McGonagall, if you could keep reading?" he inquired in as normal voice as he could muster._

_"I think not Mr. Potter," she snapped back in a deadly voice. Harry frowned at the anger. It's not like he wanted everyone to know his darkest secret._

"I wouldn't call _that_ my darkest secret," Harry scoffed. He had much darker secrets, his weird visions for one.

"But it's obviously a big deal for this Harry," Sirius said softly. Even though that Harry wasn't his Harry per say, he still hated how other Harry appeared to have had an even worse life than his godson.

_"It's not a big deal! I mean, it makes it sound a lot worse than it is!" Harry looked at Mrs. Weasley who simply sat staring at him with her mouth open in shock. Tonks had her arms around Remus, almost as if she was holding him back. The ex-professor was staring at Harry with an almost accusing look. Ginny and Hermione had both started crying softly._

Ginny blinked as Hermione said.

"Oh...it's terrible that you had to had to sleep there but..."

"I don't think we're going to burst into tear," Ginny offered helpfully.

Harry smiled but internally was relieved that they weren't.

_"Did you know?" the voice dripped with venom, making Harry whip his head around to gape in confusion at Professor Snape. The man in question loomed menacingly in front of Dumbledore. "Did. You. Know?" he repeated._

"Uh," Harry started to say but Snape snapped.

"I do not care in the slightest where you slept Potter as long as it wasn't outside."

Snape was looking extremely grumpy so Harry decided not to press it. But he did notice Dumbledore sending Snape a smile and he wondered what that meant.

_The headmaster slowly shook his head. Though his blue eyes held no twinkle whatsoever, he didn't appear angry, merely resigned. "I wanted to protect him... and the blood wards did that. I knew he wasn't treated the best but…families aren't supposed to hurt one another."_

"They aren't but being related does not stop people from hurting each other," Dumbledore sighed. "I did not know about the cupboard Harry."

"It's fine Professor," Harry said quickly. "It's just a really small room, it wasn't anything bad."

At least when he was locked up, he could still listen to the television and that helped pass the time.

_Snape gave a bitter laugh, "You never learn do you? How many times have we shown you that very fact?"_

"What does that mean?" Ron blurted out.

"I haven't the faintest idea," Snape drawled but Remus looked thoughtful. He knew Snape hadn't come from a rich family and he'd heard a few things from Lily that suggested Snape's home life hadn't been brilliant. Could this be a reference to it?

_Completely in shock over his most hated professor's behaviour Harry opened his mouth and said the first thing that formed in his head. "Hey Sirius, you know what this means, right?"_

_"What, that I have to pamper you and treat you like a king to make up for this?" his godfather asked in a somewhat amused voice. The words loosened some of the tension in the room._

"I was planning to do that anyway," Sirius chuckled.

_"Well, that too. I was thinking more along the lines of a get-out-of-jail-free card. You know, when McGonagall sends you an owl to tell you I've wrestled another troll or something, you have to wave it off. Cause obviously I've led a horrible life," Harry smirked pleased at how well the older man appeared to be taking this._

"Would that work?" Harry asked with a grin as Sirius ruffled his hair.

"No chance," his godfather barked with laughter.

_Sirius snorted. "Fat chance of that happening," he started before trailing off. "...Wait, what do you mean another troll?" he asked in disbelief._

"Don't tell me you've actually...," Sirius said a little weakly as Harry shrugged.

"You'll see," he said mysteriously.

_McGonagall answered him with a smirk, pleased she had something to hold over the famous prankster. "I do believe we will be getting to that in a couple of chapters."_

_"First year? Troll...first year? Sirius sputtered turning furious eyes to his grinning godson._

"This happened in your first year?" Tonks exclaimed. "Blimey, you really attract trouble."

**Once dressed, he headed into the kitchen where the table was almost groaning under the weight of presents. Dudley appeared to have gotten the brand new computer he wanted, as well as a second television and a racing bike.**

"Racing bike?" Sirius said with interest. "Is this something for kids?"

"Sort of," Harry said. "I'll explain it later but let's just say that this isn't suitable for Dudley."

_"Did you just say racing bike?" Fred laughed, which immediately set off all his brothers and Harry who appeared relieved that the worst was over._

_"Even at eleven he was the size of a whale," Harry gasped out for the confused adults._

"He was," Harry couldn't help but say with a smile.

_Everyone chuckled and even Snape relaxed enough to crack a smile at this._

The kids stared shocked at Snape who merely looked disgruntled. Remus smiled, he knew Snape had a sense of humour but it was only the other teachers who really knew this. Snape had never allowed Remus to become close to him during Harry's third year but Remus had witnessed plenty of instances where Snape either made a clever but witty comment or smiled at something McGonagall said.

**Harry had no idea why Dudley would want a racing boke of all things, his cousin was very fat and loathed exercise. Unless it involved punching someone.**

"Is that someone...?" Ron asked but didn't bother to finish as he was pretty sure of the answer.

**Dudley's favourite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him.**

_"Really Harry? Did you never learn to punch back?" Bill asked in exasperation._

"Have you seen our favourite shrimp?" Fred asked his brother as Harry went "Oi."

"Yeah, his whale of a cousin wouldn't even feel him if he tried to punch," George added.

_"Give me a break. It was 4 years ago and he's three times my size. I deemed it more prudent to run!" the younger wizard huffed._

"It was more sensible," Hermione told him.

_"How very Slytherin of you Mr. Potter," Snape sneered without the usual malice accompanying it._

_Inwardly Harry groaned, reminded of the sorting and another secret he didn't want getting out. Sirius is going to disown me. On the plus side Snape just might keel over in shock._

"And what is that supposed to mean, Potter?" Snape said coldly.

"You'll see when we get to Hogwarts," Harry said with a shrug although he wondered what his godfather would think.

**Harry didn't look it, but he was extremely fast. Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.**

_"You're still skinny but I guess you've grown a little," Ron conceded eyeing his friend critically._

"Not by much," Ron snorted as Harry shoved him.

_"I starve for three months and eat great the rest of the year. My body has a hard time adjusting!" Harry retorted without thinking, causing Remus to sit forward again._

_"They starved you?" he asked harshly._

"Did they?" Molly demanded, horrified.

"Sort of," Harry said, moving his palm from side to side. "It's mostly now that Dudley's on his diet, I've got to be on it too."

"You on a diet?" Tonks said in absolute astonishment.

"If anyone doesn't need it, it's you boy," Moody stated, eying the still thin boy before him.

"It's fine," Harry said. "Your care packages have been great, I didn't really feel like eating this summer."

He bit his lip as memories of Cedric washed over him, he hadn't thought about that boy for a little while.

_The teenager shrugged, sighing in defeat. "It was one of their favourite punishments."_

"That and shoving me into a cupboard," Harry stated casually.

_"But not their only one?" The werewolf pressed. Looking into his honorary uncle's stern gaze, the kid slowly shook his head._

_"Moony," Sirius sighed and rubbed his eyes. "When we break for the night the three of us can sit down and discuss this. Let's just get through this bloody book for now."_

Remus stilled, this Sirius was acting like the three of them were a family. Except Sirius was Harry's godfather and Remus was merely an old friend of Harry's dad. He wouldn't really class himself as Harry's family, not in the same way that Sirius, Ron and Hermione were. He wasn't sure how he felt about this book.

_Around the room many breathed in relief. It was disconcerting for them to hear about the horror Harry had suffered. The teenagers alternated between feeling bad for their friend, awed that he was such a good person despite it, and anger that he had never confided in them._

"Um," Harry mumbled, a little embarrassed at the 'such a good person despite it' bit.

**He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was.**

**Harry had a thin face black hair, bright green eyes and a pair of knobbly knees.**

**He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning.**

"You liked that?" Ginny said, shocked.

"I didn't know what it was," Harry told her. "It just used to be a cool looking scar when I was young."

He could still remember how older kids would stare with interest at it and it had been nice to experience interest rather than scorn.

_"What?" Hermione screeched. "You liked your scar?"_

_"Well, it was before I knew how I'd gotten it or what it meant! I was ten, I thought it was cool!" he defended, blushing at the incredulous stares his friends were sending him._

**He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

**"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said shortly.**

_"Lily did not die in a car crash!" Snape's blade-like voice sliced through the air over the feral growls coming from the Marauders._

Harry, Hermione and Ron stared, they'd never seen Snape act like that in real life. He simply ignored him but he did look annoyed.

_Kingsley and Emmeline exchanged shocked looks. "How is that the whole wizarding world knows the story except the one person it means the most to?" She murmured to him quietly._

_"It shocking," He admitted. "And partially our fault. I worked with James, you were friends with Lily. Neither one of us ever gave a thought to their son," He shook his head, disgusted with himself._

"I did work with James but I wasn't that close," Kingsley told Harry softly.

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

"Being able to cook is a good skill," Hermione sighed.

**"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

"Nice one," the twins said with equal grins.

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way — all over the place.**

"You'll never tame it," Sirius told him smugly.

_Sirius shook his head at the fond memories those words brought back but kept silent. He didn't think he'd been this angry since he'd gone after the rat but he could see that his godson was mortified of the secrets that were being spilled. He didn't need any more heaped on him at the moment._

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon except for the moustache. He had a large pink face, barely any neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head.**

_"Ugh, what a horrible picture," Ginny gagged. "Thanks Harry! Now I'm gonna have nightmares."_

Ginny stuck out her tongue at this in disgust.

_"Ginny," Mr Weasley warned, feeling that his it was his duty to do so. His wife was still in shock over the cupboard._

_"It's okay Mr. Weasley." Harry jumped in. "Uncle Vernon gives me nightmares all the time so I know how she feels."_

"Does he?" Ron asked and Harry said dryly. "Have you ever seen your parents getting out of the shower?"

Ron thought about it before shuddering, what a horrible image.

_"Why does that make me feel worse?" Charlie murmured to his brother._

**Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel — Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**

Sirius barked out laughter at this, he had no idea his godson could be so witty. Harry just grinned, glad his godfather found it funny.

_The children burst out laughing at this image. "Really Harry? Didn't know you had it in you!" Fred wheezed out._

_"Oi, I am the son of a Marauder!" Harry called back causing Sirius to shake his head._

"I've no idea what that has to do with anything but yep," Harry laughed.

_"I'm still reserving judgment on that one," he announced, causing Remus laugh and Harry to stare at him indignantly._

"Don't listen to me," Sirius chuckled. "You're your parent's son through and through. But I think you take after your mum on this, her remarks were a lot cleverer than James."

"True," Remus agreed as Snape privately did the same.

**Harry carefully laid plates of bacon and eggs on the table, not an easy feat since the wooden surface was laden down with presents. Dudley was busy counting his presents. His face fell.**

**"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."**

"Thirty six?" the Weasleys children gasped, feeling a little faint. "Who gets that many?"

"Probably Malfoy," Harry said darkly but Snape did not think that Draco got quite that many. Only Petunia would spoil her child that badly.

_"What child needs that many gifts?" Emmeline asked in disbelief. "It's completely outrageous."_

_"Indeed," McGonagall sniffed before she continued reading._

**"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, its here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy."**

**"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**

_"Merlin," All the Weasley boys breathed knowing what would happen should they try that._

"He'd have a death wish if he tried that at home," Fred exclaimed.

**His mother obviously sensed danger as well because she quickly said. "And when we're out, we'll buy you another two presents Popkin. How does two more presents sound?"**

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard, slow work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty… thirty…"**

**"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia sweetly.**

"Disgraceful," Molly grumbled, how could you allow your child to reach such a state? Since she'd homeschooled all her children, she had made absolutely sure they could all read, write and do their numbers by the time they'd gone to Hogwarts.

**"Oh" Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel, already forgetting his tantrum.**

_"There might be some good to come out of your situation Potter. If you had been treated equally with your cousin," Snape sneered the last word. "You might have been even more of a dunderhead than you are."_

_"Severus..." Minerva scolded. But Harry, however, was laughing._

"That's actually a good point," Harry said in amazement as Ron added.

"And you might have been a greasy beach ball too."

Harry shuddered at the very thought.

_"So are you saying, in front of witnesses, that I'm not?" he asked._

_"Hardly," the Potions Master smirked._

"Of course he isn't," Harry murmured as Remus threw Snape an exasperated look.

**"All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

"Think Lucius Malfoy ever does that to Malfoy?" Ron muttered to Harry who shrugged, although it wouldn't really surprise him.

**Just then, the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it. While she was doing this, Uncle Vernon and Harry watched as Dudley unwrapped the racing bike, a new video camera, sixteen new computer games and a VCR.**

All of these were completely lost on those who hadn't grown up with Muggles.

**Just as he was ripping wrapping paper off a flashy gold wristwatch, Aunt Petunia hurried back from the telephone looking worried and annoyed.**

**"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him."**

_"Figg?" Sirius muttered trying to place the name._

_"Potter!" McGonagall barked. "Why didn't you tell Arabella what those muggles were doing to you?"_

_Harry stared at her in confusion. "Who?"_

_"Mrs. Fig," His professor gestured with the book impatiently. "She's a squib and she's there to look out for you."_

"Now I know," Harry muttered.

_He nodded as he remembered but his eyes flashed angrily. "Well until this summer I had no idea she was. She never said anything. Something that's been happening a lot lately," His voice had risen until he was almost shouting at her, causing Sirius to reach out and grab his arm._

_"Calm down pup. She has claws," he advised quietly._

"Oh really?" McGonagall said sternly and he held his hands up in surrender.

**She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

**As Dudley looked utterly horrified, Harry had to contain himself from grinning. Every year, Dudley's parents would take him and a friend out for a special treat, like going to the cinema, adventure parts or hamburger restrurants. And every single year, Harry was left with Mrs Figg, a dotty old lady who lived a couple of streets away.**

**Harry hated it there, the whole house smelled of old cabbage and she always made him look at albums full of photos of every single cat she'd ever owned.**

_"Well if she was there to look after him, then why didn't she treat him better?" Ron directed the angry question at his professor who had frown lines marring her forehead._

_It was Professor Snape who answered. "If those muggles thought he was having a good time they wouldn't have let him return."_

"Very perceptive Severus," Dumbledore complimented and the man inclined his head even though he hadn't said it.

_"Not that it excuses her behaviour. I'm sure Harry was more than capable of keeping a secret," Emmeline huffed. "At the very least she could have alerted someone about how he was being treated."_

_"It was my understanding that she gave quarterly reports to the headmaster," McGonagall offered with an angry glance at the man._

"Did she?" Harry asked and Dumbledore said. "She did give me fairly regular reports on your progress. If anything bad had happened, she would have alerted me."

"**Now what are we going to do?" Aunt Petunia exclaimed, giving Harry a furious look as though he'd planned it. For himself, Harry knew he should feel sorry for Mrs Figg but it wasn't easy when it meant he didn't have to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.**

_"Harry," Remus admonished softly with a shake of his head._

"It's just having to do the same thing every single time I visit," Harry defended.

_Sirius waved his words away. "Leave off Remus. Cats are evil creatures. You can't blame the pup."_

"Well that's odd," Sirius stated and as people looked at him, said. "I've never had a problem with cats, not as good as dogs but I still like them."

"It's a stereotype Sirius," Remus chuckled. "You turn into a dog so you must hate cats."

"That's silly," Hermione piped up. "I've known dogs that got on fine with cats."

"Like Sirius and Crookshanks," Harry offered with a laugh as Sirius barked his agreement.

_"Would you care to repeat that statement Mr. Black?" McGonagall almost purred._

_The dark haired man gulped. "Repeat what?" he asked using his most innocent expression. Remus and Harry burst out laughing._

"Your definitely not evil Minerva," Sirius chuckled as she said sardonically. "Thank you Sirius."

**"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**

**"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

_"Consensual. Believe me," Harry muttered, his carefree expression turning into a dark look._

Harry grimaced, he hated her almost as much as he did Umbridge.

_"Marge?" Ron asked grinning._

_"Is that the one-?" Fred started._

_"And then you-?" George added._

_"Awesome!" All three boys exclaimed._

"You've lost me," Tonks said cheerfully as Remus and Sirius looked curious.

_"Third year," Hermione informed the rest of the room, shaking her head though she was smiling._

"This'll be brilliant," Ron assured the others. "Wait until third year."

_Sirius frowned for a moment before his eyebrows rose. "Is this when you ran away?"_

_Harry flushed muttering under his breath causing Remus to turn sharply towards him._

_"What?" Sirius asked noticing his friend's furious expression._

_"Later," The werewolf answered shortly._

"What was that about?" Sirius questioned softly, knowing no one could answer.

**This was how the Dursleys usually spoke about Harry, as though he was a nasty, slimy slug.**

Sirius shot Snape a nasty look but the dour man did not react.

**"What about what's-her-name, your friend — Yvonne?"**

**"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**

**"You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

_Fred shook his head sadly. "But Harry that would allow you to have fun."_

_"Something we have sworn we'd never allow!" His twin finished in a high imitation of Petunia Dursley._

_"At least not without us," The finished together._

"Don't think they had us in mind," George said with a grin.

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.**

**"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she demanded furiously.**

**"I won't blow up the house," Harry tried to say, but they weren't listening.**

"Hardly surprising," Snape muttered very quietly.

_"No, that would be dad!" Ron commented, causing most of the Weasleys to grin._

_Molly turned to glare at her now nervous husband. "What? When was this?" she demanded._

"I wouldn't mind knowing as well," Molly said tightly as Arthur said. "I'll explain it later Molly dear."

_"Molly, I'm sure we'll read about it at some point. Why not save the telling off for the appropriate time," Kingsley's low deep voice did nothing to calm the irate woman but she held her tongue._

_Arthur mouthed a silent thank you to his friend._

Arthur sighed, that made it sound even worse.

"**We could always take him with us," Aunt Petunia said slowly. "But leave him in the car..."**

**"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone…"**

_"Oh yes, care more for the car than you do for a child!" Hermione burst out, tears of anger in her eyes._

_Harry sighed. "Really 'Mione it's okay. It's almost funny now."_

"Mione?" Hermione repeated with a wrinkle of her nose.

"Not me," Harry told her simply, he'd never call her anything other than Hermione.

_"It is not okay, Harry James Potter, and you are far more damaged than I thought if you think it is!" she turned to glare at him._

"Damaged?" Harry repeated dumbly as Hermione exclaimed.

"I'm sure I didn't mean it like that that was really tactless."

"It's fine, it's not you," he assured her quickly, although he was starting to get a really bad feeling about this other universe.

_"And I thought Ron was the one with no tact," Ginny muttered scathingly from her seat next to Luna._

Ron glared at his sister but she just shrugged.

**Dudley began to wail loudly, great gasping cries that turned his podgy face very red. It wasn't real tears, it had been years since he'd truly cried but he knew perfectly well that if he performed, his mother would give him whatever he wanted.**

Snape sneered at this example of Petunia's parenting skills.

**"Dinky Duddydums,**

The room almost exploded with laughter at that horrible pet name, even Snape had a tiny smirk.

_"What was that? Did she just?" The twins looked at each other in horror as the rest of the room laughed. "That's horrible."_

_"Even I didn't have a nickname like that!" Neville breathed, astonished._

"Trust me, that's not the worst one," laughed Harry.

**don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried dramatically as she clutched him to her.**

**"I… don't… want… him… t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a vicious grin through the gap in his mother's arms.**

_"What an absolutely spoiled brat!" Emmeline growled._

_"Indeed if I were his mother he'd be over my knee before he could so much as blink," Molly agreed though her voice was quiet. Her heart felt like it had broken in two when she heard what had been done to her adopted son._

Harry coughed, trying not to laugh. Poor Dudley would be left very shell shocked if he ever came face to face with Mrs Weasley. Beside him, Ron also sniggered.

**Just then, the doorbell rang — "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically — and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother.**

**Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. **

Sirius made a face at this, reminded of Pettigrew.

**He normally held people's arms while Dudley punched them. Dudley instantly stopped pretending to cry.**

_"Of course he did," Charlie scoffed. "Couldn't be seen as a baby in front of his friends."_

**Only half an hour later, Harry was sitting in the back of the Dursleys car with Dudley and Piers and he couldn't believe it. He was actually on his way to the zoo for the first time in his life and he couldn't be more excited. However before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken him aside for a word.**

**"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy — any funny business, anything at all — and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

"You weren't left that long, where you?" Tonks exclaimed but Harry quickly said.

"No, the longest was a couple of weeks. I was basically grounded, that's all."

_Growls could be heard around the room though the loudest was surprisingly coming from Ginny. Harry just rolled his eyes._

_"Seriously, getting mad's not going to help anything," he jested in an effort to hide the shame every mention of the cupboard brought._

_"At least not yet," Sirius muttered to himself. "I'm keeping all the anger for when I come face to face with those bastards." Remus through him a cautioning look._

Harry shot his godfather a look, he hoped he didn't feel like that in real life.

**"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly…"**

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursley's he didn't make them happen.**

"Oohhh Harry are we going to hear about some of your accidental magic?" Hermione asked. She leaned forward eagerly anxious to know how they compared.

Harry wrinkled his nose. He didn't think his early magic was all that impressive. Not only was it embarrassing but there wasn't a whole lot of it. From Ron's stories he'd had something happen almost every week.

**Aunt Petunia became so tired of sending him to the barbers that she'd taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair until he'd almost been bald. All he'd been left with was his fringe to 'hide that horrible scar'. Dudley had laughed so hard, he'd snorted out his milk and Harry had spent a sleepless night imaging how the other kids would laugh at him in school where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes.**

**But the next day when he woke up, his hair had grown back to the same state it had been in before Aunt Petunia had touched it.**

**He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

"Ridiculous," McGonagall explained as Dumbledore shook his head sadly.

_"Potter hair!" the Marauders sang hiding their anger at the treatment._

_"She should know about accidental magic." Tonks pointed out. "Surely Lily did some?"_

_"Of course she knows," Snape sneered. "It gives her a reason to hate."_

"What kind of accidental magic did mum do?" Harry asked eagerly but Snape didn't answer making him scowl.

**On another occasion, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old jumper of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls).**

_"Was it made from the hair of an Umpkilter?" Luna asked dreamily from her end of the couch._

"What?" Kingsley said in slightly confusion.

"Luna...uh, says strange things at times," Remus explained as Snape rolled his eyes. He'd lost count of the number of stupid things that girl had mindlessly spouted.

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry.**

_Luna nodded sagely. "It tends to do that, the Umpkilter hair," Hermione opened her mouth to dispute the claim. Both Ron and Harry pressed their shoulders into her to keep her quiet._

"How exactly did Harry end up with a jumper containing hair from a magical creature in a muggle house?" Hermione demanded in an annoyed voice. Luna wasn't as bad as she'd first thought she still had a tendency to say ridiculous things.

**Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

_"Thank Merlin," Sirius muttered quietly._

**But that wasn't even the worst incident, that belonged to the time he'd found himself on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley and his gang had been chasing him when Harry had suddenly found himself clutching the chinney.**

_"Blimey Harry, how'd you get up there?" Ron asked in awe. His friend just shrugged._

_"Brilliant mate," Neville agreed._

_"That's very advanced magic." Kingsley, Moody and McGonagall all agreed._

Snape briefly wondered if Potter had inherited Lily's ability to launch herself into the air before dismissing the thought. Potter was nothing like his mother.

**The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trashcans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.**

_"Really Harry we have to work on your excuses. You can't be a Marauder Jr with that kind of drivel!" Remus teased._

_Sirius shushed him. "We don't need him learning how to lie to us any better."_

_The twins gaped at him. "You sir, are a traitor to the prankster code," Fred informed him solemnly._

"No, Sirius is being a responsible guardian," Molly told her twins severely who were not above lying to her just to get away with their nonsense. "Working on _'excuses'_ is a terrible thing to teach your child and I sincerely hope Remus that you do not agree with your other self."

"I don't," Remus assured her, adding. "I've found that children will teach themselves when it comes to excuses."

_"No, what I am is a man who is responsible for keeping a trouble-seeking hooligan safe," His lips twitch at their devastated faces._

"Now a trouble-seeking hooligan is a little harsh," Sirius said mock seriously as Harry mock glared at his godfather.

_"I am all for him pulling pranks and causing untold mischief," he held up a hand to quiet their yells, "as long as his life is not in danger."_

_"You do realize he is sitting right next to you." Harry responded dryly._

"And...he's not really a prankster," Harry added for everyone's benefit.

He paused before asking.

"Does that bother you?"

"No," Sirius stated. "We had a lot of excess energy and imagination...and no madmen trying to kill us. It's not really surprising you're not a prankster but I don't care either way. Do what you want to do Harry."

Harry smiled.

"Thanks Sirius."

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.**

_"You're jinxing yourself with thoughts like that," Bill groaned._

"Harry grew out of it," Ron assured his older brother who laughed.

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.**

**"…roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

**"I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

_"I fully take back my previous statement." Snape sneered. "You are as much of a dunderhead as your cousin."_

"I didn't mean to say it," Harry said mulishly.

_Harry flushed at the smirks that were sent his way. "I was excited to get out of the house."_

**Uncle Vernon almost smashed into the car right in front of them before turning around and roaring. "MOTORBIKES DON'T FLY!"**

**Dudley and Piers sniggered loudly.**

**"I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."**

**He really wished he hadn't said a word because if there was one thing the Dursleys hated more than asking questions, it was him talking about things acting in an abnormal way, be it a dream or a cartoon. They seemed to think he could get dangerous ideas although he still didn't know how this worked.**

_"Forge, I think we just found some new inspiration for our genius!" Fred was nearly bouncing in his seat._

_"Indeed Gred, I sense many new inventions arising," he agreed._

_Together they turned to Hermione. "What are cartoons?"_

"I'll explain later," she told them. "I think this is one muggle invention that will impress you."

"Really?" they said in disbelief, making her feel slightly offended as she replied. "Yes."

"She's right," Harry spoke up and that silenced any protests.

**It was a beautiful sunny Saturday and the zoo was packed with families enjoying a day out. Dudley and Piers were bough huge chocolate ice creams at the entrance and Harry was bought a cheap lemon ice lolly when the nice lady in the van asked him what he wanted. The Dursleys had been unable to hurry him away fast enough and did not want to look strange.**

"I've seen your aunt and uncle," Moody suddenly spoke up. "Strange doesn't even begin to describe them."

"It's bad when Mad Eye is saying something like that," Tonks added seriously.

**It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**

_"Merlin, Harry," Charlie said wiping away tears of laughter. "What is it with you and comparing people to animals?"_

"I dunno, a talent?" Harry suggested.

**It was the best morning Harry had had in a very long time. Of course, he was careful to walk a little distance from the Dursleys, it made Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon happier if they didn't have to pretend he was part of their family.**

There were grumbles at this.

**It also made it less likely that Dudley and Piers would employ their favourite hobby of hitting them as they grew bored of the animals.**

**They had lunch in the zoo's restaurant and when Dudley threw a tantrum over the size of his knickerblocker glory, Harry was allowed to finish it while Uncle Vernon bought Dudley a new one. Afters, Harry should have known it was too good to last.**

"Great," Sirius huffed, his godson couldn't even enjoy a single day with those people.

**When they were finished, they headed towards the reptile house, a dark slightly gloomy place filled with glass tanks. Inside these tanks, there were all manner of lizards, snakes and tortoises crawling or slithering over smooth stones and bits of wood. Dudley and Piers wanted to see the biggest, most dangerous reptiles they could find naturally.**

Ginny grimaced, she was overly keen on large snakes after her experiences with the Basilisk.

_Harry shot up in his seat. "Wait!" he almost yelled. He turned wide eyes to his guardians._

_"What's wrong?" Remus asked worriedly as Sirius tugged the hyperventilating teen until he was sitting between them._

"What's wrong?" Ron asked in confusion, Harry had spoken with a lot of glee about this incident before now.

_"I...I...cantalktosnakes" He rushed out, green eyes bugging out in panic._

"He's worried about what Sirius will take him being able to talk to snakes," Hermione said in understanding."

"Wouldn't they know already?" Harry said with a frown. "Rita Skeeter certainly splashed it all over the papers."

"I don't think this Harry realises that," Hermione said with a small smile.

_"How about we try that again, but this time you actually breathe," Remus smiled gently at the distraught boy._

_"I'm a parselmouth!" he huffed out, his anxiety quickly turning to confusion at the expressions on the two men's faces._

_"Harry I'm sure they know." Hermione stated, continuing when his gaze swung toward her. "That awful Skeeter woman wrote about it in that article right before the third task."_

_As understanding dawned he got up from the couch and narrowed his eyes at the two men. _

"The penny drops," Fred laughed as everyone smiled, especially Snape who was thinking what a melodramatic brat this other Harry was, clearly gasping for attention from those two idiotic marauders. He ignored the fact that the present Harry wasn't acting like that at all.

_"You didn't say anything!" he accused._

_"Well jeez, that afternoon you were nearly killed by Voldemort, we restarted the Order, you were attacked by dementors, and tried like a criminal," Sirius responded dryly. "I think in light of everything we got over our surprise."_

_"Of course, it would have been nice if you had mentioned it before it became necessary," Remus added, weary affection in his voice._

"I honestly didn't think I needn't to after that article," Harry mumbled.

_Harry shrugged but didn't respond as he sat back down with his friends._

**Of course Dudley immediately made a beeline for the largest reptile in the whole place, a huge python. It could have easily wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a dust bin — but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, the snake was fast asleep.**

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils with awe. "Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

**"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

"Well done snake," Sirius said with a grin, glad the serpent wasn't reacting.

**"This is boring," Dudley moaned before shuffling away.**

**Harry now had a chance to move in front of the glass and examine the beautiful creature. The poor thing must be so bored lying there day after day with nothing more interesting than stupid people gawking at him. At least he wasn't confined to a small space for a hundred percent of the time; he could explore the rest of the house and beyond. And the only gawking visitor he ever got was Aunt Petunia. **

_"That's really sad Harry." Charlie shook his head. After growing up in the Burrow he couldn't imagine being that alone._

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

**It winked.**

"Winked?" Hermione said in confusion. As far as she was aware, snake didn't have eyelids.

Harry shrugged, it seemed like it had winked at the time but perhaps it had made some other gesture he'd interpreted as a wink.

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.**

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: "I get that all the time."**

**"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

"Some snake," George said with a grin.

**"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

**The snake indicated a little sign next to his tank with its tail and Harry peered at it.**

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**

**"Was it nice there?"**

"You were talking to a snake," Snape said flatly.

"Yeah," Harry said a little defensively. "Why not?"

Snape just sneered.

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see — so you've never been to Brazil?"**

_Neville began laughing. "Only you could have that conversation with a snake and not think it was strange."_

**Just as the snake was shaking his head, there was a sudden yell right behind them.**

"**Dudley, Dudley come and look at this, you won't believe what this snake is doing."**

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could, almost panting with exertion. **

There were grimaces at this boy's obesity.

**"Out of the way, you," he said, shoving Harry hard in the ribs. Caught by complete surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor with a gasp of pain.**

_There were exclamations around the room. "That boy..." Mrs. Weasley was unable to finish her thoughts._

_Sirius was growling. "Harry I can guarantee you that I will never punish you for anything that you do to that boy," Harry and Ron exchanged looks of surprise._

"Typical Black," Snape said coldly, ignoring the look Dumbledore was giving him. "By all means, encourage the boy to follow in his father's footsteps."

"What does that mean?" Harry demanded hotly and Snape smirked at him.

"Exactly how it sounds," he said smoothly as Dumbledore said. "I'm sure our Sirius would not allow Harry to exact revenge on his cousin."

Sirius was glaring furiously at Snape as he said.

"Maybe you didn't notice Snape but that wasn't actually me who said that. I've never told Harry he should do anything to his cousin except stay away from him."

"Of course," Snape said, voice dripping with sarcasm. Thankfully, the book was continued.

_"Does that mean he'll punish you for other things?" Ron asked in a whisper._

_Harry shrugged. "How am I supposed to know? I've never had parents before."_

Harry glanced at Sirius who looked a little unsure.

"You're in school most of the year," he stated. "And I doubt you'll do anything in the next two years that'll give me cause to punish you."

Snape scoffed but was ignored.

**What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they leapt back with howls of horror.**

**Harry pushed himself up and gasped in astonishment, the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank was gone.**

_"Awesome!" all the boys shouted and even the adults were smiling._

_"That's really strong magic Mr. Potter." Kingsley observed in his deep voice. He appeared impressed._

"Is it?" Harry asked and Dumbledore said. "It is very impressive that you managed that without conscious thought. The magic you displayed when running from your cousin is much more common, a direct reaction to what you are experiencing. You obviously wished this snake was free so much that your cousin's action released your magic is a powerful burst."

_"Hmph, why can't you do that in class?" McGonagall asked though her eyes were glinting approvingly._

"I've never had to vanish a snake's glass tank before," was Harry's reply causing her to say.

"Then I'll be sure to include one this term."

**The huge snake was uncoiling it's self at a rapid pace and already heading for the exit. People shrieked and ran as the snake slithered along.**

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come… Thanksss, amigo."**

"What was that like?" Tonks asked curiously, she'd never seen Harry talk to a snake.

Harrry thought about it for a moment before saying. "Amazing."

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. "But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

_"That poor man," Emmeline commented._

**While the zoo director himself apologised over and over, Piers and Dudley had jabbered about how close the snake had come to biting off their legs. Even though as far as Harry could tell, it had barely snapped at their feet and even then, only playfully. **

**But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"**

"Why the hell did he have to say that?" Ron demanded, he knew this wouldn't bode well for his friend.

**It was only once Piers was safely out of the house before Uncle Vernon spoke. He was so enraged he could barely make himself understood. He only just managed to say. "Go-cupboard-stay-no meals."**

**After this he collapsed into a chair while Aunt Petunia rushed to fetch him something.**

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wincing at the welts on his back and wishing he had a watch.**

"Hey...what, what?" Harry yelped in astonishment as nearly everyone looked outraged. "That...that never happened."

"You're sure?" Sirius said hoarsely, picturing his godson lying in a bloody wreck.

"Yes," Harry said with a mad gesture of his arms. "The Dursleys never even spanked me, let alone whipped me with a belt. What the hell is going on?"

"It would appear that this Harry has been abused," Kingsley stated grimly. "It would probably explain some of his behaviour. He is anxious and a lot more scared of his past being discovered."

Dumbledore had a very grim expression and he wasn't the only one. Snape's face was closed but he was experiencing a bad feeling. Even though Potter hadn't been beaten, it was still unpleasant to read about a Potter that had been. It took a few minutes for everyone to focus back on the book, it was a horrible revelation. However, Hermione still had one question.

"So what should it have said?" Hermione asked.

Harry paused thinking.

"Probably that I was hungry," he said finally with a shrug.

_Molly Weasley had turned white, and before anyone could protest she rushed out of the room._

_"I'll go..." Mr. Weasley trailed off in the strained silence before following his wife. The distant sounds of sobbing could be heard._

Harry flushed at this, even though it hadn't happened to him. Mrs Weasley did look close to tears and he hoped she didn't actually cry.

_"Can we just continue reading or something?" Harry asked in a small voice not daring to look up._

_"I'm sorry Mr. Potter but the book has sealed itself. We will be unable to read anything more until all are present," McGonagall relied quietly._

"Bloody typical," Harry muttered, his other self must feel awful.

_"So," Sirius announced in a loud voice. "We need something." He got up and headed for the kitchen part of the room._

_Remus looked at his friend in annoyance before following. "How can you stay so calm after hearing something like!" he hissed._

"I wouldn't mind knowing that," Moody stated, this Sirius was acting remarkably calm for someone who'd just found out their godson had been whipped.

_Sirius watched as his godson's friends crowded around him and the twins attempted to lighten the mood by offering Charlie one of their trick sweets. "What's the point of making an issue out of it? The kid's mortified as it is."_

"That's very sensitive of you," Molly said softly making Sirius stare before shrugging with a grin.

"That's my middle name," he said with a small smile, relieved that his Harry had never been beaten by his uncle. But it was hard not to dwell on the fact that another Harry had been thoroughly let down by his other self.

_"It needs to be discussed," The werewolf insisted. His voice was little more than a growl and his eyes were a more yellow than brown._

"Going to unleash the inner wolf," Snape said in a casual but deliberate tone.

"I sincerely hope not," Remus said evenly while inwardly being alarmed at the display his other self was showing.

"Snape, why don't you f...," Sirius growled before catching Minvera's stern look and changing tack. "Fine something more useful to do than making stupid comments."

_The other man sighed. "And it will be. Between the three of us as a family," His hands clenched bending the spoon he held in half. "Dammit Moony!" the pain in his voice heartbreaking._

Harry actually stilled a little at this. While the part about him and Sirius being a family was obvious, the bit about Remus...not so. He really liked the older man, he'd been a brilliant teacher but for the last year, he hadn't heard anything from him. Not even when he'd been entered in the Tournament had Remus sent a single letter to tell him off or congratulate him. So the idea of the three of them being a close family was...odd.

_It was another ten minutes before everyone was once again assembled though many were sporting red faces._

**He had no idea what time it was and if the Dursleys were all asleep. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for food.**

As people grumbled at this, especially Molly, Hermione exclaimed.

"That means he wasn't locked in."

They looked at her and she said.

"If he was waiting to sneak to the kitchen, that meant he wasn't locked in and could at least go to the toilet or get a drink."

"Your right Hermione," Arthur agreed with a smile. "It seems his aunt and uncle trusted him not to disobey their orders so they saw no need to lock him up."

"He's such a sweet boy," Molly murmured as Snape mentally mused how naive the adult Dursleys where when it came to Potter junior.

Harry was looking a bit embarrassed, it was true that generally he wasn't locked in his cupboard but it was thanks to waiting until after midnight to help himself to food. Luckily, because of Dudley's tendency to snack, it was impossible for aunt Petunia to keep track of all their food and who was eating it.

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died.**

_"Because there was no crash boy," Moody growled as he pondered if there was any way he could bring the muggles up on charges._

"I doubt I could get them for that," grumbled Moody. "Suppose we could still harass them a bit."

"As long as I can come," Tonks said with a grin.

**Occasionally if he thought long and hard, he could dimly recall a blinding flash of green and a searing pain on his forehead.**

"You remembered that?" Kingsley exclaimed as all the adults looked at him in horror.

"Yeah," Harry grimaced. "Just."

He didn't add he remembered a lot more than that, thanks to the Dementors.

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all.**

_"Your godfather and I know plenty of stories that we will share with you." Remus smiled sadly._

**His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

"I've got photos now," Harry said as Sirius opened his mouth, looking horrified. "A whole album full of them."

"But you didn't know what they looked like growing up?" Sirius said grimly and Harry had to shake his head.

"No," he said quietly.

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened;**

Sirius felt guilt crash all over him, he should have been there for his godson.

_Sirius closed his eyes tightly at these words, feeling them like a knife through his chest. Remus was growling at he stared hard at the headmaster._

Remus blinked at this, this Remus seemed a little unbalanced if he was growing of all things. Perhaps he had more trouble keeping the wolf at bay.

**the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too.**

**There had been a little man in an oversized violent top hat who had randomly bowed to him in a shop. This had really alarmed Aunt Petunia who had first furiously asked Harry if he knew the man before hustling him and Dudley outside. Another time, an extremely wild looking woman covered head to toe in green had waved cheerily to him on a bus. The weirdest incident was probably the time a bald man wearing a long purple coat had shaken his hand before simply walking away as though nothing odd had happened.**

_"Cause your Harry-bloody-Potter!" Ron snorted earning a disapproving look from his mother._

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

Snape tensed at this; remembering his days before Hogwarts when he'd been dressed in old, miss matched clothes. A lot of children had enjoyed teasing him for this as well as his general demeanour. He'd longed to be around magical children, he hated hiding what he was and he'd been so delighted to finally spot a potential playmate in Lily. Of course, it had become a lot more for him but at the time he was just so relieved he wasn't alone any more.

He shot Black a hateful look, it was his fault that wonderful vibrant girl was no longer here. And he hadn't forgotten how most students at Hogwarts had avoided disagreeing with the Marauders for fear of being targeted. But of course, it was all in good _fun._

Remus saw the look and grimaced. At some point during this reading, Harry was going to find out about James and Sirius's bad side and it would not be pretty.

_"I think it would be a good idea to stop for the night." Dumbledore announced looking around the tense faces of the room._

_The announcement was met with nods and various groups began to file out of the room._

"That was some chapter," Remus said mildly as McGonagall stopped reading. "Who is going to read next?"

"I will?" Arthur volunteered and he was handed the book.

_Author's note. How does the next chapter progress? Find out next time, until then._


End file.
